Hetalia Adaptations in 30 Chapters
by Lichtherz
Summary: This time this is some kind of medley... of little stories I absolutely wanted to write. Don't expect me to post them on time or any connection... I just do what I want 3 But they will at least 30 chapters and Another rule here will be that the protagonist is either Scotland or France or both.
1. Commonwealth Games -A Tribute to England

Commonwealth Games: A tribute to England  
(Hunger Games: A tribute to Panem)

Good morning, good afternoon or whatever time you will read this.  
My native language is not English, so please excuse my poor grammar or use of words.

Pairing: Scotland x France

Rating: M (because of violence)

Genre: Adventure, Sci Fi?

Disclaimer: France and Scotland belong to Europe, Francis Bonnefoy belongs to Himaruya and Alasdair Iain Kirkland (Scotland, and I gave him this name) belongs to a user in pixiv.  
Liam and Owain Kirkland belong to Aaid, I just lend them for I wanted to write a fanfiction with at least one time those two (instead of my own OC's)  
- This fanfiction is inspired by 'Hunger Games – A tribute to Panem'. This piece belongs to the respective owners. Both book and film.

_

It was raining.  
With leather hood drawn deep down his face, just enough so he could see, the hunter had spotted a doe standing in a glade. His breath was only faint. He knew he was standing against the wind. It was impossible that the doe could smell him from this distance.  
The forest green eyes narrowed, the arrow was slowly set into aim with the bow. Raindrops dripped from the metallic tip of the arrow. Still, the direction of the wind had not changed, the doe still drank from the fountain in the glade…

With the release of the bowstring, the arrow flew and dug the tip into the target's tender flesh. The doe yelled her last breath and fell over into the small pond she had drunk from just moments ago.

The hunter took a deep breath of relieve. Okay, dinner would be secured for the next week. He walked forward to pluck out the arrow and put it back into the Quiver after cleaning the tip roughly from the animal's blood. Then he tied the legs together, just to he could pick up the corpse to bring it home. Good meat needed at least a few days to hang and dry.

It was still raining when the hunter reached his home village. The village was just made from a few poor houses, one of which was the church that had a tall tower. The tower looked like it was going to crumble anytime, but the villagers said that it was standing this way for at least 500 years. In the village was everything that they ever needed: A butcher, a baker, a tailor and of course the local administration that received direct orders from the capital far away. No one of these villagers here had ever been to the capital. There were many rumours around it, for example that there were fountains with milk and honey.

Alasdair walked back home with the prey on his back, walking up to the butcher who would take on the bloody work and sorting out the good meat of the doe. There was trust between the villagers. Whenever something happened, they could count on each other.  
"Ye think it's gonna rain?"  
"Most likely, but it always looks like it's about ta rain. No can help tha'."  
"Aye, ye can. By traveling to another district o' th' crown."  
"Hah, as if. A like it here."

Alasdair got a little package with meat and bacon from the butcher. He didn't need to pay as he regularly went hunting for the family of the butcher.  
"It's about time ye look fer a wife. Ye sure ye are na interested in me daughter?", the butcher had a daughter in about Alasdair's age. …but she wasn't really after Alasdair's taste. As the butcher had asked him, the 'lass' was standing in the background and gave a smile which showed the gaps between her teeth. Also, she was rather obese. She took well after her father.  
"Mmh… Aye. A'm na… lookin' fer family yet. Whot if A get picked in th' next round? Nae need ta make widows."  
"Now that seems pessimistic. How many times have ye been there when they picked the district's tribute? Yer 27, Aye? Tha' makes 17 times in yer case."  
"More so a chance tha' A'll be picked. …Efter all, A'm young an' healthy.", the redhead rolled his eyes.

Then the redhaired Alasdair went home. He lived alone somewhere on the edge of the village. The district, that was the 'Secound district'. The remains of a glorious Kingdom once in the Northern part of Great Britain. But about 300 years ago, that changed. Poverty decorated the land while the 'capital' realm kept on feeding from its 18 districts.

His home was just a shabby little cottage, inside there was no one waiting for him. He had a pet some years ago, but now it was like he was waiting for the roof to fall down. He hated the system of the districts and everything. He even considered not going to the election of the tribute at all.

In the next morning the whole village – those that were nominated for to be tribute went to the election on the town square.  
A large board was set up and a film was shown, giving a little history of how the England had overthrown the other realms and was the centre of the 'Commonwealth' ruling all over these 18 districts. Every 4 years now, a tribute from each of those districts would be sent to London to entertain the English and show just on what place the districts were.  
Of course those 'Commonwealth Games' would be broadcasted on radio and screen all over the world.

Also, the children, starting at age 10 would be nominated for to be a tribute. Those would then be registered on the town square. A chip would be set into their skin that would come into action when the person would join the Commonwealth Games. This was also some kind of census to count the inhabitants throughout the districts. The Government in London estimated that someday they would have to pick more than one tribute each district just to make sure that not too many people lived on the planet.

The representative for this district was a man with lovely long blond hair and a French accent. He had come from another Land but was working now for England. He was the show master of this event but also the medial support person for the tribute.  
"I am 'onoured to present you zhe tribute of zhis year's Commonwealzh Games!", the blond picked with neat fingers an envelope from a silver plate that was offered to him. "Zhis year's tribute with be….Alasdair Kirkland!"

Silence among the numerous would-be tributes. They stood at least in 10 lines before the tribune that was heavily guarded in case anyone would go nuts.  
However, Alasdair Kirkland was obviously missing. The guards had called him, no one had answered and as the registrars reported that the guy had not been seen all morning, a troop of the guards was put together to tell the bloke the good news warmly.

The guards knocked on the door. After receiving no answer, they kicked it in and invaded the lonely house. Alasdair just blinked awake as he heard the violence in his home. Not much later, the guys were in his sleeping room.  
"…Ye.", When the redhead was woken like this, he was rather grumpy.  
"We have the order to escort you to the train to London.", one of the officers said in a strict tone.  
"Said who?"  
"…You have been elected to be this year's tribute."  
"…Th' election wos t'day?", Alasdair sluggishly replied as he got out of bed. He wore nothing but a pair of shorts. It was not like he cared if those heavily armoured guys were in his room.  
"Yes. So would you kindly put something on and follow us to the train? Your trainer is waiting."  
"…Pah."

Alasdair wasn't allowed to bring anything. Not even his own clothes or weapons. He was told that he was given that at the capital. So he was just wearing some pants, a shirt and some slippers. It was summer after all and the heat pressed down everywhere. That was at least what sweat-soaked Alasdair had thought as he stepped on board the long steel train. Inside, everything was…nice.  
The furniture looked old, but classy. French design, maybe. Then, it was rather cold compared to outside and hardly damp. Because of the constant rain, when summer came in the second District it would be usually like in a spa: Hot and wet.  
"Zhere you finally are. Haha… 'ave you overslept?"

The redhead looked and then found the blond smiling at him, coming from the front cabin. He looked dazzling, flashy…definitely someone to get laid with, regardless what your own sex would be.  
"Uh… Mh…", the door behind the Scot closed aprubtly and the train started to move forward. Soon the woods and houses outside would blend together and would barely be seen. At least those close by.  
"Zhe train can take up to 200 miles per Hour. …Ah, zhis is no good. Luckily we still have at least two hours left. Because juste like you are now, we cannot present you to zhe audience."  
"Whot audience?"  
"… Are you stupid?", another girly chuckle escaped Francis Bonnefoy's mouth. It soon annoyed Alasdair. "Zhe very point in your appearance is to look good. You need to make friends among zhe audience, so zhey support you during zhe battle."  
"…Whot's th' point…We tributes are dead by th' time we're picked, Aye? Even th' winner.", he looked out of the window and carefully stepped along the cabin, looking around him and not really understanding what was around him. Why was he picked? Wanted someone get rid of him?

"We need to wash you, give you a proper 'aircut… mh.. did you need to be so 'airy?", the Frenchman started to pinch and pick on the taller man. "At least you have some muscles to show. Oh, zhe people will like zhat. …I know! I will take your measures and phone them to London so your clothes will be waiting for you."  
"Why couldn't A get me own clothes?", Alasdair blushed and glared at the blond.  
"Don't you still get it? It's my job to get you zhrough zhis. Now stop being…. Being so childish! …My job is bad as it is.", the Frenchman turned from his delightedness to a more serious mood. One, that didn't seem so superficial.  
Alasdair looked at the blond and felt something like pity for him.

At first, Alasdair had to take a bath. And while he was sitting in the tub, Francis entered the room, looking more like business now, with a set of scissors, brushes and razors.  
"Hum?", Alasdair looked over.  
"Are we enjoying ourselves?", Francis chuckled. He turned some levers and he had a holder for his tray that held his tools as well as a small sink like those that professional hairdressers use. The blonde set right to work and washed Alasdair's hair after having put on gloves. "Don't be so tense. Relax… and I don't look anyzhing away. …Besides, I decided for you to keep most of your unsightly hair. Because I want to create a certain picture. You are a brave and tall – handsome – Scottish man. I want to give zhe audience zhe impression zhat you are coming right from zhe Highlands. Loch Ness and stuff."  
"…But A am fra th' Highlands. …An' Nessie is real."  
"Haha, of course, of course. Anyway, you are going to be wearing a Kilt. I already phoned zhat to our little team waiting in London. They don't know your size as I didn't measure you yet, but zhe Kilt is… normal, Oui? About 5 or 8 Metres. I ordered 8, because you're so big."  
"…", Alasdair blushed a little as he let the blond massage his scalp.

"Oh, you got wonderful hair too. …You're a natural ginger?", Francis leaned over to see the hair on the Scots chest and… a little further down. Alasdair noticed that.  
"O' course A am a natural! And stop lookin'!"  
"Sorry, sorry!", Francis laughed nervously and rinsed the hair conditioner out of the red hair. Then he dried it roughly with a towel, getting right to cut the hair. He draped a cloth around Alasdair's shoulders, then divided the hair into sections, clipping them up with several clips. The cutting happened quick and secure. Francis knew very well what he was doing. Alasdair however dozed off as the feeling of the Frenchman on his head seemed rather…relaxing.

Francis chuckled softly as he noticed that his 'client' had dozed off. But he continued with his work and draped the cloth slightly different to shave him. He used foam to mark where he would shave and then went down with the blade leaving no scratches or whatsoever. Alasdair was then left behind with a good and decent haircut that made him look like a civilised gentleman (the usual cut you see him with on the 'pixiv' Scotland = similar to England but parted in the middle.), and slight sideburns. Now he looked so good that Francis was tempted to kiss …and probably do some other things to him.  
The French managed to gather his tools and clean up the hair that had fallen to the floor.

"…Eventually you need to leave zhe tub. Zhe water is cooling down.", Francis said and heartily poked the Scot.  
Alasdair flinched and fell back awake. He immediately noticed how his head was lighter – still felt better – and his face was free from most hair. He ran a hand to his mouth. "…O-och!"  
The blond French smiled and gave Alasdair a mirror. "We made a beauty out of zhe beast."  
"…", Alasdair gave Francis a weird look, but then was astonished by what he saw in the mirror. He was sure a handsome man!  
"It's really a shame zhat you 'ave to join zhis hideous battle. If it was for me, I'd keep you forever."  
"…Weesht. (shut up)"  
"I wonder if you die as a virg…"  
"Can A have a towel, please?!", Alasdair loudly interrupted the other, knowing fairly well where this was going.

Francis handed his prodigy a large and very soft towel. "What are your… strengzh's? I mean in battle. You 'ave battled before, 'aven't you? Your muscles are well toned."  
"Aye. …A went huntin', daily.", Alasdair was rubbing his skin dry as Francis had turned his back to him. Francis had then also given him some spare clothes that were clean and somewhat fitted Alasdair.

Then the two went over to the waggon they had been in previously. A fine meal was served there. But Francis insisted on taking Alasdair's measures before the redhead was let to the food.  
"…A lik' big weapons. Big swords more than fire weapons.", Alasdair explained while he shoved the food into his mouth like there would be no longer food afterwards. But also he knew this was a golden coffin. So why not make use of that? "But if A have ta, A'll use guns too."  
"When zhe Games start ye must but run… Zhere will be a set of weapons spread out in zhe middle. But zhe most air'eads go for zhat first and a big massacre is zhe result. You don't want zhis, do you?"  
Alasdair frowned.  
"Also, you will be given a week of time preparation before coming actually to battle. Zhere will also be interviews. …Do you 'ave family at 'ome?"  
"Nae. There's no one…"

Francis found that sad and watched as the other still dug his food. The Frenchman was already finished eating his salad.

Eventually, their train reached London by night. Alasdair did have some resting time before the train arrived. The 17 other districts' tributes had already arrived, but not all of them had done so by train as some of them were also across oceans in other parts of the world.  
The same evening was a show, where the tributes were introduced. The tickets for the show had been largely out of sale for months already.

"Good evening England, Commonwealth and the World!", the presenter boomed into his microphone. He had short blond hair, bright blue eyes that were but covered by a pair of sunglasses, and a festive suit. "This evening we proudly present you the 18 tributes of the Commonwealth that will stand against each other in a match within a week. This tradition has been going on now for at least 900 years ever since the Great England has taken over the world! Only 22 Nations have been spared so far and some have exited the Commonwealth. But for what reason? There is the chance to become immortal among the heroes of the Commonwealth! Unforgotten are those that battled within the glorious Arena of London! And today in the 21st century, technology has allowed us to perfect the Games for you, dear audience in this stadium but also out there on the monitors and radios!"

Music was played and the excitement among the audience grew wild.  
"But let's not digress into other spheres. Here come the tributes of this year! From the First District: Owain Kirkland!"  
Owain was a tall man with dark brown hair and forest green eyes. He had a lot of a gentle giant. He wore what was meant to be the traditional clothes of his land.

"And from the Secound District: Alasdair Iain Kirkland!"  
Alasdair was nervous. He tugged a little on the clothes he had been given. A Kilt with blue-red-white Tartan pattern and a sash with the same pattern, then a black frock jacket and a white shirt with a white tie. Then white socks that were well visible and black slippers. This wouldn't be what he was wearing for battle, that was for sure. He got even more nervous as the crowd cheered and his face was seen on the four large monitors that were in the arena.

"The Third District: Liam Kirkland!"  
Liam was a young lad with ginger hair and also forest green eyes. He seemed nervous but a grin showed confidence.

"From the Fourth District: Matthew Williams!"  
Matthew was a shy young man with silky blond hair and purple eyes. He looked rather handsome and wore the typical attire of the Canadian Mountain Police.

Other districts followed. What Alasdair bothered was how they had no names but numbers. They should have had names…they should have been independent countries. Maybe they were, but often the government would censor everything that was related to the past from before they belonged to England's realm.

Remarkable were the guys from Districts 8 and 9. Number 8 had a Koala on his shoulder while 9 had a small bird named Kiwi with him.  
The show ended after Papua New Guinea had entered and the audience had gotten a good view on the combatants. Everyone was excited for the match that would be coming up within 7 days.

"What a show! Alasdair!"  
"…Who said ye could call me tha'?"  
"You're my prodigy! …And I am probably zhe last person you are close wizh.", Francis gave him a hurt look.  
The taller redhead gave Francis a glare. The Frenchman however just pulled him along. "You'll 'ave to change clozhes."  
"Again?"  
"Oui, you have something for the night and somezhing for training, and zhen zhe zhing you will wear on your day of battle."  
"…Ye behave lik' a mother."  
The blonde chuckled and blushed a little.

About an hour later, Alasdair was sitting in his comfortable pyjama and was eating dinner as he was in his room. He was left alone by Francis just to get some privacy and time to think for the first few minutes of this day.  
This day?  
It was already the next day. But Alasdair actually enjoyed sitting by himself. He had a very comfortable and soft bed that just invited for sleeping, he was sitting on a couch that was just as comfortable, he had a large window through which he could see the city lights… it was almost as if all of these lights were marking a living thing inside the city.  
He let the TV run besides that. The TV showed scenes mainly from the event of the Commonwealth Games, about the participants, about the stadium, about earlier Games.  
The redhead missed nature a bit in there…  
"Actually, yer all ta pity.", he mumbled softly as he took a bite of his stew. It was delicious. The best meat he had ever eaten.

The next day, Alasdair was over at the training hall. Others were already doing their training. Here, the redhead wore a tight-fitting tank top in black with blue lines, and some loose fitting pants with the same pattern. He had asked Francis if his Battle Outfit would also be with Kilt, but it wasn't going to be… well, good to know.

The other District Tributes seemed to do well with their weaponry. One had Bow and Arrow, another used shotgun of various calibre, others were good with throwing knives, then there were also users of staffs or swords.  
Okay, this was why Francis had asked if he had been specialised. But Hunger was actually the worst part of the Games. It was all about Surviving out in the wilderness. Shouldn't the Districts then be teaching their young ones on how to do that? Especially when all of them could have been chosen as tributes.  
At least, there was no child among them…

"Yo Number 2, wanna do some sparring?", a dark skinned man with a Jamaican accent walked up to him. "A know that fightin' each other isn't allowed, but a bit of sparring can't be bad?"  
"A din ken…", Alasdair's eyes looked for any supervisors.  
"Come on, man. It ain't gonna hurt.", the guy from District 5 went into battle stance. His suit was similar to Alasdair's but the lining was yellow. The guy wore dreadlocks in a ponytail and a pair of sunshades. …As if he needed that inside this building where the walls were already black and only illuminated here and there to give some cool effect.  
Alasdair shrugged, then cracked his knuckles and warmed his body a bit up, just to go into fight mode too.

What the two did with each other was something like Kickboxing. Whenever there was an opportunity, one weak defence, the other would use it. Soon, the other District tributes would stand around them and watch them fight.  
Sadly, soon a supervisor got between them and told them to separate.

"Whot's yer name?"  
"…Coffey… Jim Coffey. …Lik' the drink, just a bit different.", Jim grinned.  
"Okay, Jim.", Alasdair smiled. "A'm Alasdair Kirkland."  
The Jamaican had a funny accent, the Scot liked that.

When Alasdair returned Sweat soaked from the training, he found a large envelope on a shelf in his bathroom. He had just wanted to take a shower and change into his comfortable pyjama again as he noticed that.  
Towel still around his hips, he walked out of the bathroom and studied what was in the envelope. It was the story of his District how he would soon learn.

The Kingdom of Scotland was founded by a King very early in time after the Romans had left the British Isle and when the King had united the Picts, Northern Umbria, Dál Riata and Strathclyde.  
The Scottish and the English would fight each other to the bitter end.  
In the early 14th century a man named William Wallace had fought bravely for his believe that the Scottish should have been independent from their Southern neighbours. He had paid with a painful death.

In the report was written detailed how Wallace died. And about the Alliance between the Scottish and the French… Well, Francis Bonnefoy – his mentor – was French. Alasdair knitted his thick red eyebrows together as he noticed that he was dry enough to wear clothes and walked back into the bathroom.

As the week went by, the famous presenter with the blond hair and cowlick would interview the tributes individually. This would also give the tributes a chance to win 'fans' among the people of England. Thus this would give them some benefits during the battle.

Just when it was Alasdair's turn he walked up to Francis and requested a makeover for his costume.  
"Now? Are you nuts? Couldn't you 'ave come earlier? Mon ami, zhis is really not zhe time!"  
"Help me!", the green eyes burnt into the French mind.

10 minutes later, Alasdair walked on stage in a somewhat… irritating fashion. He wore blue celtic patterns over his right arm and face, wore a simple rough woven shirt in beige and the Feileadh Mhor, the 'great Kilt', around his hips and a part of it as a sash around his upper body. Dark brown boots reached almost up to his knees. The audience was stunned by the look because Alasdair looked really wild.  
Francis stood with some other people backstage before the monitors. He didn't believe what he saw.

Alasdair on the other hand had discovered his confident patriotic side. He knew that the 'Scotland' from the report was his District.  
"Okay, Ladies and Gentleman. Today we will introduce you further to the 18 tributes that will fight each other in the Commonwealth Games in a few days. This time it's about Alasdair Kirkland from the 2nd District. Welcome, Alasdair."  
"Moarn."  
"Is… that get-up usual in your place?"  
"Actually nae. And at home, no one walks around in a Kilt.", the redhead explained, pointing to the skirt-like garment he wore. "But we tributes lik' ta show where we come fra, and who we are. Wasn't it so at the entrance show? Th' world is goin' ta remember us."  
"You are pretty self-conscious about this. …Are you sure you will win?"  
"If A din believe A will win, then A will definitely lose."

"Y-yea, that sounds pretty confident. …By the way, what do you wear underneath that…Keld?"  
"Kilt. K-I-L-T. …A can show ye.", Alasdair smirked and got up from the seat, turning his back to the audience and lifted his Kilt.  
The presenter Mr. Jones gasped at what he saw. The reaction of the audience varied. Some were shocked, others grinned, some gasped as well but then grinned.  
However, you could probably say that whatever Alasdair had done, he had sold himself to the people. Not some false figure created by someone else.

"Just what were you zhinking?!"  
"Whot's th' matter?", Alasdair snickered.  
"What zhe matter is? You juste showed your bum to zhousands if not millions of people! Do you zhink zhis is going to 'elp?"  
"…Och, din be mad. It's juist a wee bit o' fun fer a dyin' man."  
Francis huffed. So much for confidence into winning. Alasdair ticked back and forth between living and dying.  
Well, it was no mystery that the winner of the Commonwealth Games would always go against the 'Tribute' of England. …But the Tribute of England always wore a marvellous suit of Armour and a set of Weapons that would be way too good compared to whatever the winner had.  
It was not a secret that the Districts would have to sacrifice one among them every 4 years for their Government to kill. These tributes were sacrifices.

The Scotsman tried for the rest of the week to just enjoy life but also use the training to stay in shape. He really was torn between the possibility of winning but also giving up because there was no possibility for him to win. What were his options?  
If only he would know if there was a weakness upon this ominous suit of armour. But there were only rumours about it. Actually, rumours he would believe as these rumours included that pictures and other stuff about the armour were top secret. Even the cameras would shut off once the English 'Tribute' would step onto the island.

Ah yes, the island. The battlefield was an island somewhere in the English Channel. There was in the middle a clearing in which the tributes would start. 18 spots set for them around a bunch of crates and weapons that would be lying around like from a horn of plenty. The rest of the isle was covered in deep forest, almost like a jungle. There were also hidden chests here and there to be found. So even if one would run from the start, there was a chance to survive. People said that hunger might be one of the more possible deaths out there.  
Well, besides the thick forest were also ravines and the influence of the operators. The operators had control over the island via computers and modern technology. They were able to broadcast the happenings around each of the tributes but also to cause controlled fires in the forest, make smaller or bigger animals appear or disappear. They were practically gods of the island.

The tributes were brought individually to the island and they also wouldn't attack each other until they had their positions in the circle around the horn of plenty. It seemed like the tributes were sports that were preparing themselves for a marathon. It was surprising how there were barely any women.  
Alasdair thought that still some of them might look like girl but he could tell that they were just… young guys. For example, the one coming from District 9 (New Zealand).  
The redhead wore his battle outfit, that consisted of a black hoodie, a black shirt beneath, a pair of dark jeans and boots. He had put on some decorations such as blue celtic patterns that covered half his face and a stripe of tartan fabric bound like a neckerchief around his left ankle. It might even come in handy later.

The countdown was visible via laser above the trees in the sky. 5…4…3…2…1… Go!

Some of the tributes flinched, the more brave ones darted forward towards the horn of plenty, others ran away without even grabbing anything.  
Alasdair believed in the function of his long legs and darted forward, grabbing two backpacks. Then he headed straight for the woods, but one of the other tributes stood before him, ready to smash him with a sword.  
"Darn!", Alasdair cursed and grabbed something close – it was a spear – and smacked it against the guy. The sword flew out of his hands and Alasdair didn't think twice, but drove his spear right through the guy's skull through the eyeball, picked up the sword and headed once again for the woods. He heard screaming behind him and bullets graze his legs, but he just ran as if his life depended on it.  
Well, maybe it did depend on it.

Alasdair soon ran through the forest where the ground was filled with slippery wet leaves from last autumn. He hoped that no one had set up a trap yet. But that wasn't much likely. Not a lot of time had passed since the start. But where to run first? Eventually, he couldn't hear the cries near the Cornucopia anymore.  
His nose noticed the smell of salty air. Maybe he was near the ocean. Yup, there were a receding forest and upcoming weather-torn bushes ahead.  
He was in luck. He found a cave to hide in for now.  
"Anybody in here? Come out now or never…"

No reply. Okay, he thought, and walked inside. He wanted to look at what was inside the bags he had been able to get, but then hesitated. What if someone was behind him? He waited and listened for what might be outside the cave.

Nothing, still. Good… the redhead furrowed his thick eyebrows and opened one backpack after another. There were two bottles, one filled with coke. A Swiss army knife, a rope, a roll with plastic bags, a small can with beans and a box of matches. The redhead grinned over his luck as he tried to keep in a happy cry. He stored the things into one bag. He didn't need two. Okay, he had these items and the sword he had gotten from the other guy he had struck down. Does that make me a murderer?, he wondered. Again, he looked outside at the sea with the waves that waved their foam crowns at him.  
"…This is legalised murder.", he muttered.

The first few days were rather boring. Every now and then rain would wipe away traces of both human and the inhabiting animals. Some of the tributes had already died and were announced also on the island by evening. On the evening of day 2 were alive from District 1 (Wales), 2 (Scotland), 3 (Northern Ireland), District 4 (Canada), District 6 (Bahamas), District 8 (Australia), 9 (New Zealand), 10 (Grenada) and 12 (Salomones).

In the meantime, Alasdair had found a routine, had found something to eat and always changed the location of his camp. This night would be more uncomfortable as he had decided to sleep in a tree. He used the rope to tie himself onto the tree and covered his head with the hoodie. He regretted that he had used up the coke, but refilled both bottles with fresh water from a stream he had found on his way.

Apart from the start he hadn't killed or met any of the others again. Actually, he couldn't picture himself killing someone coldblooded. But the thing was that he had no choice. And what if someone actually managed to kill the 'tribute' of England? Bringing back history to their respective owners in the Districts would probably call for a revolution. Because as much as he had read about the history of Scotland… how brave these people were, as much were probably the others too.  
Just too bad that it was impossible to go with the other tributes and start something like a riot. Some of them had been eager to kill…

"Pst."  
Alasdair blinked just before he had been able to doze off.  
"Pst…. Mr. Skirt."  
"…It's called a Kilt, ye bastard."  
"Mr. Kilt, I knew it…"

It was the Canadian. He looked like a kicked puppy. He had bruises all over and his nose had been bleeding.  
"Are ye alone?"  
"Y-yes… please, Mr. Kilt…Help me."  
"If this is a trick… A swear to god.", Alasdair still made no move towards the blonde below him.  
"It's not a trick. …I think no one is here. Can I come up? I ran away when the others formed a group."

"Yea, they formed something like an alliance. They want to kill you. They have been looking for your traces but up until now you were too good."  
"Until ye came along. How did ye find me?"  
"…I needed to pee and then I found something odd about this tree.", the blond Canadian blushed.

"Listen mate… this isn't guid. …A'm plannin' ta overthrow th' stupid Kingdom. And A can't use a sidekick. They want all o' us dead aside fer a single tribute. …And if we're th' last two, ye make me kill ye. …A din want ta be th' one doing tha'. Ye look like a pup."  
"Just because of that? …Can I come up, I think we're being too loud. What if the others hear us? On the other branch is still space."  
Alasdair rolled his eyes.

About 10 minutes later, the Canadian was with him up in the tree. Apparently he had told the truth. But killing him would somewhat break his heart. What sacrifice…  
Actually, having everyone dead and play along wasn't good either. Too many people had already died…  
"How it is with yer place? Have they also inserted some … kind of chips into your vein? Where are they?"  
"Oh, the chips? …I have no idea. But yes, they will be a problem. This is why we do this. Haven't they told you that …'they' can push a button and kill you with this chip?."  
"…Och.", so much for a revolution. With the chips inside… there wasn't even a need for a high-tech arena like this where they could send out beasts or anything to kill them right away. Or a final boss like the English tribute.

The next morning brought new victims. According to what Matthew – the Canadian – said, there had also been fighting among the group he had left. These new victims had not been announced by the operators yet, but the corpses had been found on the way of Matthew and Alasdair.  
"Do ye think they get a funeral?"  
"I'm not sure…", Matthew didn't want to look further at them and tip-toed past them.  
"A hope so. …A din think tha' anyone wanted a war lik' this."

But things would come different as many times…  
The two groups eventually met up. The operators behind their computers had pushed them together by using fire and other things to shoo them into the right direction. And here they were just on a bridge between two large rocks. Underneath the bridge a vast river that cut into the island.

"We're a bit outnumbered, aren't we?", Alasdair murmured.  
"You can also just run into my blade and it'll be all over.", said one of the men with the darker skin.  
Matthew whimpered.  
The other guys in the larger group didn't look so confident.  
"Ye din want tha', do ye?"  
"I do!"

The guy from the 6th District (Barbados) lunged forward and attacked Matthew and Alasdair. The redhead tried to dodge the attack. Eventually, other tributes from the larger group joined the fight and the hanging bridge collapsed.  
The last thing that Alasdair remembered was a stinging feeling between his ribs, then everything went black…

Alasdair couldn't tell how much later it was when he awoke the next time. He was washed ashore somewhere down the river. He heard only birds chirping around him as he was lying on his back, seeing the very blue sky above him. Or below him? Oh, his mind was fuzzy.  
The stinging feeling between his ribs had been a dagger that had eventually gotten there. It wasn't so deep in there, so he considered pulling it out.  
Then again he knew that pulling it out could cause internal bleeding. So, what to do…? Still lying on the ground, he looked around him. There were some of the other group, but obviously dead. One of them stared right at him with a dull gaze. No life in there, clearly.  
The redhead continued looking around him, then considered his options.

He pulled the dagger out of his ribs, then quickly pressed cloth against it. It hurt like hell and he would have screamed if he had not found some stick of wood beside him to push between his teeth. Usually, burning out the wound would have done a good job too. But he was still very wet from the ride in the river. There was no chance… also, he had no gunpowder to do that.  
"Wonder…where the others are.", he muttered to himself in a raspy voice. He felt mental, but he needed to hear talking. He noticed how much he missed the blond Canadian. Och, there he was. …Also dead.

Shudders ran through the Scotsman's spine and he felt a knot in his throat while tears rolled down his cheeks. Why the sudden tears? For the blond Canadian? Well…yes…damn, he had been the first to stick around with Alasdair, because for company, not because it had been his job! And now he had been ripped out of life.  
Why did it surprise him though? They all had been sentenced to death at the point they had been drawn from among all the other District inhabitants.  
"…Shit.."

With his blurry vision he would never see how on the tip of the dagger was a small, technical item…

Alasdair didn't pack the things that were scattered around the rocky beach, save for a sword that seemed to his liking. He walked up beside the stream to find at least the spot where all of them had fallen from the old bridge.  
How many were alive by now? How much longer would the games take? Or were they already over? Couldn't be…

Eventually, he reached an area, where the guy from District 8 (Australia) fought bravely against a man in a white suit of armour. The battle was really unfair. The suit of armour seemed very high technology with a lot of inbuilt weapons. Eventually, he beheaded the Australian and the head rolled over to Alasdair.

The redhead huffed in shock and stared at the head. He just saw how the eyes got dull.  
The rest of the body fell over into the dirt. Slightly, Alasdair wondered if the tributes would even get a proper funeral in honour.

"Ah? There's another one…?", the man in armour said. This was the English 'tribute'. It was much likely a parody of the wars that had enslaved the 18 Districts under England. "But the operators said you were dead…"  
"Well… as ye can see… A'm not.", Alasdair huffed. The injury in his ribs hurt. And here he was, fighting just for a statement. And to make a change in history. Maybe, these Districts could regain their names… and this massacre could stop!

The armoured man shot a few arrows out of his arm and at the redhead. Alasdair grunted and dodged the attack. He knew he better won soon. He needed to get closer to the other guy as his sword was made for close combat, not to cross such a range of distance.  
The guy in armour seemed to calculate quickly and took out a glowing sword from his armour. Apparently, it had a heated up blade.  
As their blades clashed, there was a buzzing sound and sparks flew.

The Scotsman tried to break through the defence, but the suit of armour allowed the Englishman to move at an enormous speed. Eventually, the blade of Alasdair was cut in half and flew behind him. But in the heat of battle he hardly recognised that and went just past the defence and right into a softer part of the white armour. He made it through the hard shells and seemed to hit something… fleshy. Blood soon sprinkled out.  
"You… you…"  
"…Ah."

Alasdair hesitated for a moment, but then added force onto his blade. The white 'knight' seemed to be unable to make a counter attack with his sword. As the broken sword stuck into him, Alasdair ripped the helmet from the guy's head.  
He had short blond hair and thick eyebrows… much like Alasdair himself.  
The redhead had to see that maybe they weren't so different.

"You… bastard…"  
"…Stop tha'. A did it fer th' future.", Alasdair felt stupid for saying this. "England shall be no longer ruling over us… and take our culture. Ripping it fra our faces."  
"We never …. Did that… we wanted to … unify you… all of you… under one sky…"  
Then, the gaze of the man went dull.  
Alasdair thought about what he had said. Under one sky? …That would mean that this was purely for the sake of unifying them all…so there would be no war between the Districts…


	2. The Big Fox

Good morning, good afternoon or whatever time you will read this.  
My native language is not English, so please excuse my poor grammar or use of words.

Pairing: Francis (France) x Alasdair (Scotland)

Rating: T

Genre: Adventure

Disclaimer:  
France and Scotland belong to Europe. Hetalia belongs to Himaruya.

_

The fox had long forgotten when he had been outside this tank. Or was he born here? However, he was covered in reddish liquid, so he couldn't much see what other colours there were outside. The sounds coming inside were just faint. Just sometimes there were sharp knocks. His ears would then twitch in shock of the sudden sense.

His food was mostly passed through this red liquid. He never had used his sharp teeth in his life or so he thought. He had never seen clear daylight. Those endless days seemed dull, hell, he couldn't even tell what were days. And thus being so long without any sensation, he was pretty much on the state of an unborn child with no memories or dreams.

But one day, everything changed. The liquid was released from the tank and he was tossed out into the cold bright world where noises tortured his sensitive ears. He never noticed that it was his own scream that made most of the noise.  
Surely, he was wrapped into cloth and brought to a place just as warm, safe for his face where his muzzle noticed something yummy. A bottle of milk. He would drink just out of instinct.

More weeks passed by and eventually, he opened his eyes for the first time. His fur had grown fluffily around him on every inch on his body. There was majorly red, his body and lower face were white just like the tip of his bushy tail. He had dark brown 'socks' on his legs. The green eyes curiously looked around without really understanding anything from what happened here.  
Earlier, he had been able to smell things. The smells were rare… mostly, there was nothing to smell, so he would notice every time he would get food. … liquid food still.

However, now he was ready to claim the world! He walked on shaky legs and sniffed everywhere as his eyes got used to the daylight.

The foxes' surroundings were sterile. Very well cleaned and white with some black accessories. Here and there some potted plants were visible and on some walls were holographic monitors showing pictures about forests, rivers and other natural places… what irony in the middle of this artificial place.

Another few months passed by and the fox hardly had any contact safe for the nurse that was giving him food and drink. He kind of developed a social bond to her, even despite the fact that he was …pretty big for a fox. Being a kit, he was already 2 metres in length not counting his fluffy tail. One day, the nurse – an elderly nice woman with fresh eyes – brought in a young girl which she introduced as her grandchild.  
"Look at him, isn't he pretty?"  
"He's so fluffy! Can I keep him?"  
„Haha, no. I'm sorry, dear. The scientists won't allow it."  
„But he looks so sad. He wants to play…", the child that had long blond hair got out a ball and tossed it at the foxes' nose.

The fox looked at it cross-eyed and tilted his head.  
The child laughed and picked up the ball once more, this time gently dabbing the nose. The fox snorted.  
"Woah, I hope he's not mad."  
„…He would have eaten you if he was. Well… I also thought that a little playing with you two wouldn't hurt. You're almost equally old.", said the old woman.  
The fox looked confused to his nurse, who just nodded and smiled.

Eventually, the Fox and the child started to play for a bit…until the fox accidentally swallowed the ball. It had been so small!  
"Oh no! What if he gets sick?"  
„Don't worry, Francis. The ball…will get out after a few days. It won't hurt him. Not with this size."

The scientists changed the daily routine of the fox from then on. They gave him tasks to do that requested his head, his thinking but also his body control. Some kind of skill tests.  
And every week those tests would become more difficult.  
Being scientists, they liked to torture animals. And by now you would think that there is some kind of genetical experiment going on with the fox. You may be right…. Because after a while, the scientists started to add substances to the food of the fox while also changing the program that was on the screens in his chamber.  
The program on the screens was pretty much Television. News, Documentaries, fun shows, you name it…

One day, the foxes' behaviour changed too. But that was also maybe to the fact that the elderly woman who had nursed him had died. She would just no longer come. No one had come to tell the fox that she would no longer come to care for him. No one had ever talked to the fox aside from the child that had used to visit him.  
And now things became more serious. The fox started to make a mess in his room and the scientists tried to tranquilise him with shots and electroshocks.

But then the fox also got too smart for them. He would just lie down and pretend to be sick. When the scientists would give him an electroshock, he wouldn't move. Just until one of the scientists came into his chamber to investigate… which was a big mistake.  
The fox was wide awake and snarled at the man.  
After he had nearly killed him, he took the key card the guy had worn around his neck and walked to the door with that… to just walk out as if he had never done something else.  
The scientists were terrified and astonished. Apparently they had underestimated their guest.

The fox wasn't quite used to walk such long ways. Neither did he know where to go to get out of here. He just followed his instincts as people around him screamed and ran away, until he found a cylinder shape. … a lift? He pressed the button and the doors opened. He walked in and made himself small enough so the doors would shut behind him. The lift cart slowly descended and gave him a view of the large hallway below him that was decorated with plants. Were they artificial too?  
The lift was transparent and on the base surrounded by a large aquarium.

The red fox was a bit astonished by the pretty aquarium but told himself to snap out of this as the doors in front of him swung open. He dashed forward and down the hallway. He had no idea where to go but out of here.  
Armed men shot at him at the entrance. They had been warned. The red fox dodged most of the shots thanks to his thick fur. But before he could make his way outside, he fell over and that was the end of his road.

Days later, he awoke in his room, but was restraint with chains and tubes. Still, the scientists didn't talk to him. Why talk to him? He was just a stupid fox and didn't understand them anyway, right?  
Wrong.  
They were so terribly wrong…

The fox himself however was too stubborn to talk back to them.

Now after the nurse had faded away, her grandchild was in charge now. The child had become a young handsome man by now… which kind of showed just how much time had passed by, by now.  
"Come, you must eat something."  
The fox refused to take food from the young man, despite he recognised the smell of the man.  
"Come on, you don't want me to ask the scientists to tube-feed you?"  
The fox looked away.

"Say 'Ah'."  
The fox looked at the man, the man looked back and chuckled after a while. "Ahaha, of course… you can't…"  
"Ah."  
"Uh?"  
"But A still din want any o' tha'.", the fox continued.  
"Y-you can talk?!", the blond made big eyes and fell onto his bum.  
"Aye…", the fox looked away again.  
"But… why? And since when?"  
"…A din ken. It's been a few…days now. … Or years? A din ken time anymore."

"Why did you want to escape? The scientists are upset."  
"They are upset? Hah! I am more upset than all of them! Where is yer Grandma?"  
„Oh, she's… … she's no more… her funeral has been yesterday."  
The fox made a sound and tears started to form in his eyes and he looked down.  
"I'm sorry."

A doctor entered the room and Francis was sent out sooner than he could react. The blonde protested but the doctor threatened to get him fired.

The doctor simply went ahead and pushed the needle of a syringe into the flesh of the rather large fox. The fox yelped and snarled he didn't like the pain… though compared to the pain in his heart, it felt like nothing.  
At first.  
Then, the changes were visible and the fox howled in pain. Francis banged against the door and demanded to be let in as he heard the violent sound.

When Francis managed to enter the room, the fox… was gone, more or less. Instead, there was a (handsome) young man with red hair, snarling and crouching over a passed-out scientist. The young man was still quite hairy… something between a fox and a human actually.  
"F-fox… is that you?"  
A gurgling sound came as reply and the fox-like man lunged towards Francis.  
He bit him fairly into the neck and growled. Blood trickled down and stained the white shirt of Francis dark red.  
"Shh… it's okay…", Francis forced to smile and wrapped his arms around the upset beast. "It's okay…"

The Frenchman hummed the old tune his grandmother had used on the fox to calm him down or humm him into sleep, much like a lullaby.  
It worked slowly. The fox took his teeth out of the wound. Again, tears rolled down his cheeks. The red hair subsided a little and revealed an even more humane look.  
Francis continued his chanting to the end… 


	3. A never ending Winter

Good morning, good afternoon or whatever time you will read this.  
My native language is not English, so please excuse my poor grammar or use of words.

Pairing: Francis (France) x Alasdair (Scotland)

Rating: T

Genre: Adventure

Disclaimer:  
France and Scotland belong to Europe. Hetalia belongs to Himaruya.

_

The temperature measuring devices showed about -15 °C (5 °F) on the outside temperature. Snow fell outside and cloaked the pure, untouched surface into a shining white. Not really a weather to go outside, especially considering the wind that howled around the science station.  
But this was a normal weather for where Alasdair worked, as he sat by the table with a good cup of coffee and read the scales for the last night.  
This was one of many science stations on the south pole, the only continent with a massive ice shield on top and where a lot of nation had sliced it down like a piece of cake. Still a few decades would pass by, until these nations were actually allowed to benefit financially from their stationing here. It was said that the Antarctic bore a lot of treasures, among which gold and petrol were only small.

Until then, the United Nations worried about changing climate and pollution of the only world they lived in.  
This was why Alasdair Kirkland – Scotland – was here. He was sent down here for the British fraction that owned a little bit of Antarctica. Next to him were also France, Japan, Belgium, Norway, America, Russia and others…  
He was glad that there was no competition down here. Where the weather howled against them, tried to drive them out of this unforsaken land, there was no need for enemy ship between the Nations. Despite the Antarctic sliced up like a cake, the several stations were scattered randomly across the continent.  
Every now and then, the Nation would come down here and check if the data was still good and what were the changes. Sometimes, they also had to fly over the land for investigation.

There was some slight change in the data he had read so far. Something was different down… at the pole of inaccessibility. The name alone said nothing good.

Actually, the question was… what role the Antarctica had played in early life of the earth. As far as scientists know, at one time, there was a massive continent called Pangea. If Antarctica had ever been part of that… would there eventually be remains of animals, plants and the such?  
That would at least explain why there was petrol… but there had to be more remains.

The temperature at the pole of inaccessibility was warmer than the rest of the land. Alasdair considered going out there just for…curiosity. Would it be worth it? What did he need for that?  
"Everything okay, mon cher?", a familiar voice asked, coming from the bedroom. It was France. Francis had come over also for some kind of check-up. Since Scotland and France shared some history together, they still preferably worked together nowadays.  
As for Francis, he enjoyed whenever he worked with Alasdair instead of Arthur. He would even abandon his own Antarctic station.  
"A-aye… It's juist… one place here is warmer than the rest, by about 5 degrees."  
"Celsius or Fahrenheit?", the Frenchman asked, knowing that 5 degrees Celsius were more serious as the Fahrenheit, since the scale of the Fahrenheit was very much finer.  
"…Celsius. It's… well, around there it's like -10, and th' pole itself says 0."  
"Oh… that's serious. There could even be… water? Well, it's at the point where it just freezes."

The blond Frenchman got up and walked over to his lover, watching over his shoulder and looked at the documents from the computer.  
"Indeed… Wanna go there?"  
"Mh…A'm nae sure. Such investigation is expensive."  
"Sometimes it's more expensive when you don't do it."  
"… A wanna sleep a night over it. It's not like the weather now invites ye ta jump out and greet th' sun."  
"…The sun.", Francis chuckled as he gazed over to the window.

It was day – which was normal for a summer night in Antarctica; still alarming this up rise in the temperature even when the sun would constantly shine on there. The spot that got warmer was just… too small.

The pole of inaccessibility always describes a certain place that is so far away from the water that it is almost out of reach. Using a motorised sled, Alasdair wanted to make his way to the pole.  
"A'm juist goin' as close as this thing brings me. Maybe A can see somethin' fra close by.", Alasdair said to Francis.  
"Why can't I come with you?"  
"Because I might need your help here. When somethin' happens wi' me, ye call home. …They might come with helicopters or somethin'."

"If I'm not back within a week, call them, a'richt? A also have a mobile with me, but A din quite trust technology on a place like this. At least not th' smaller technology.", he looked up at the massive antenna of the station.  
"…Alright."

Alasdair smiled at Francis and bent forward to place a sweet kiss onto his nose. "Din worry."

Endless sheer white snow welcomed the Scotsman who had basically every inch of skin covered. His eyes were shielded with sunglasses because the sun reflected on the ground so strong… it would have blinded him.  
No sign of living for a long time. Every now and then a gap where he had to cross with maximum speed of his vehicle.  
By afternoon he took a break and drank some water. In order to get water, he just gathered some snow and cooked it with a fire he had made from a stove he had carried with him.

What was amazing was that here and there were pieces of vegetation deep within the ice. For example small branches of ancient trees or moss. Sometimes even Amber.  
Antarctica must have been a flourishing place, a deep forest, a long time ago.

By the next day, the pole of inaccessibility came into sight. Actually it was just a plain field of snow and ice with a monument standing, marking the actual point. The monument was a large base with the golden bust of a man…  
Near the monument stood a figure and stared at the bust.

"Привет (Privjet – Hello)", said the figure that was covered just as much.  
"…Fàilte.", Alasdair said as he got from his sled. He wondered if the Russian had come all the way here by himself. "So… ye have noticed too, mh?"  
"Da.", Ivan Braginsky nodded and looked at the redhead. The two men were the same height - and for both it was rare to find a person with the same height.  
"There's something here."

Ivan took a spade and started to dig in the snow. Now Alasdair also saw that nearby he had something like a truck but made for to drive on snow and ice. On the load area were tools.  
"…Mind if A help?"  
"Nyet."

Together they dug in the snow in silence. Eventually, the monument tilted. But Ivan – who had said that this was a statue of Lenin – just shoved it out of the way. Soon both men were sweating and taking off several layers of garments.  
Eventually, they reached dark brown soil. It was frozen of course.  
"No ice here. …but the ground is frozen. I know how to deal with this.", Ivan said as he put his spade into the snow just to make it stand by itself.

"…Would it even be safe just to keep diggin'? Din ye have some tools fer investigation… and if it's juist a temperature scale…", the redhead suggested.  
"No need for a scale. I can feel that something is not quite right and we lose time.", he started to put several fireplaces around the hole they had dug. One by one, they were lit up. "Time for a break."  
The Russian invited the redhead for some Wodka.

After their little break they wanted to go back to work. But instead, the warmth of the fire had continued to work without the two nations. The soil broke in and Alasdair fell into a pitch black cave that had been beneath there. Some blue glow came from a spot, explaining the rise of temperature.  
"Are you okay, friend?"

"Ugh….A'm nae sure… Gimme a sec.", he mumbled as he slowly got back on his fours, then got to stand again. "Do ye have a rope or somethin'?"  
"Didn't you bring anything with you?"  
"Well, it's not like A can get things fra here.", Alasdair rolled his eyes and got out his mobile. No message from Francis. Alright, but what he was really looking for was the camera app as he patted the snow from his pants.

The mobile created a bit of light within the cave. Slowly, creatures came into sight that bore some similarity to familiar animals like cats, foxes or dogs. But they looked more…ancient. More wild and pure in their appearance.  
Then, a calm glow was further in the cave.  
"Will ye come down here?", Alasdair looked up to see if Ivan would follow.  
With the metallic ladder the Russian had adjusted at the edge of the break-in he came down rather laborious. The ladder dangled as it had no fixed point but the car it was tied to. Ivan carried a camera and a torch himself and started to look around as he was next to Alasdair.  
"This is really… like something we have always assumed. … an ancient continent."  
"Aye."

But it was impossible that there would be some kind of human being, like a 'nation'. Because it was… just unlikely that humans have lived with these savage creatures.

The two baffled nations walked between pillars of ice. Ice and soil changed and mixed together here and there. Overall, it was rather sparkly. Eventually, they would even find old plants, even things like moss and flowers; part of old bark that lead to the conclusion that there might have been a forest. Maybe more like a European forest, not a jungle.  
"Th' question will be… who will get credit fer findin' this?"  
"It will be me, of course."  
Alasdair glared at the Russian.

"A find this is a bad idea. Ye din even catalog yer findings. Yer museums are juist a big messy pile o' things ye din even ken how precious they are."  
"Lies. My museums are good!"  
"Oh really? Ye din even ken half o' th' value. Fer example, whot did ye do with th' crown jewels o' yer last Emperors? And whot happened to th' Amber room?"  
"I don't care, I am going to take some of these samples."  
"Din ye dare.", Alasdair growled and glared at the Russian. He was not representing the United Kingdom, but he could definitely defend what was his – and he had just sought out that whatever they had found here would be for the British Crown.  
Eventually, the two of them started an argument that escalated into a combat. Or more over a fist fight.

The two of them were almost equally strong. The thick winter clothing also took some of the damage. The Russian got tackled and pinned to some icy wall.  
"A won't let ye get away with tha'…"  
The Scotsman had underestimated his opponent. He had been about to trap Russia with his magic, but then Ivan lunged at him and tackled him so hard against one of the frozen walls that they broke through and ended up in a larger room.

The room barely had any light inside, just an eerie blue glow. Alasdair couldn't see anything but he was aware that the Russian was lying on top of him. Not that much of a comfortable feeling regarding the weight. Slightly, he wondered what a typical Russian diet was.  
"…Russia?"  
"Da?"  
"Get aff."  
The sound of shuffling and the weight was removed from him.

After a bit more shuffling, a light near Ivan illuminated the cave. He had obviously found a lighter in his pocket.  
"Do ye smoke?"  
"Nyet, but see how you can always use something like this."

Then the two nations froze as they saw what was in this cave. There was a stone chair… or moreover a throne, with a person sitting on there. An adolescent girl with long white hair. Her eyes were closed and the two visitors were in the opinion that she was most likely… not living.  
Then again she was in a real good shape regarding how she was not conserved in any known way. Like the mummies from Egypt. And there was certainly air in here.

"I have seen things like this.", Ivan murmured, lost in thought. "But as soon as air or light touched the corpse, the corpse dissolved.  
"Maybe there's a layer o' frost on her skin?", Alasdair whispered, as if the girl could hear him.  
"How did she get here?"  
"And more importantly… Was there probably a girl missing…? Maybe from one of the scientists…? She does nah look aulder than 12."

The question was what to do. If the two of them continued fighting, it would do no good. They would just end up damaging more and breaking through more walls… that lead to nothing.  
"If we make photos, journalists might come."  
"Won't they come anyway?", the redhead looked over to the Russian.  
"Not if we can stop them."  
"But whot if someone misses a girl… we should send th' picture…"  
"This is rather difficult.", Ivan paused and furrowed his brows. Neither of them had been in such a situation before.

But then, something very unexpected happened!  
The girl opened her eyes!

Russia and Scotland stood there petrified as they saw how the girl started to move more and more. Of course she had been frozen, so it was more uneasy for her to speak. The language however was unknown. Not Russian, not English.  
"…A'm sorry, we cannae understand ye.", Alasdair tried, since he kind of stood between the girl and the surprisingly frightened Ivan.  
"Сохраняйте спокойствие! (Keep Calm)"

The girl just blinked and tilted her head. "You….arrre not frrrom herrre, arrre you?", her accent was strong but now it was English.  
"N…Nae. A'm fra Scotluund."  
"…Russia."  
The girl smiled. "Nice to meet you. My name is Atlantis."

The two male nations looked stupefied. Atlantis?  
"Welcome to my Kingdom… which seems a bit…cold?", she looked around and still could not move her legs. Then she grasped the pendant around her neck with shivering hands. The pendant glowed and soon after, she staggered from her frozen 'throne'.  
"It seems… some time has passed by. What yearrr do we have?"  
"…2014."  
"Hm, this isn't too much. But this is weirrrd. Have I gone back in time?"

The girl asked to be taken to the surface. She missed the sunlight.  
"This is rrreally differrrent…"

"I conclude… Atlantis was a continent in the Atlantic Ocean. Or at least was believed.", Ivan said to Alasdair, so just he could hear. "And then the continent drifted down here and froze over."  
"This seems the most credible explanation. …So we have discovered Atlantis. Bet, this calls fer a prize. Why din we take turns in exhibit in th' museums. Ye ken, A have ta pass it ta me brother afore A can have it mesel'. … which is a sad thing in itsel'."

After a bit of thinking, Ivan nodded. But what to do with the girl? Exhibit her as well? This reminded him strongly of the time almost 100 years ago, when strange looking people were exhibited like zoo animals.  
"Okay, let's not keep it a secret, then. Let the journalists come."  
"They come this way or another.", the Scotsman murmured.  
Atlantis was playing around in the snow until she found the monument with Lenin. She asked the men who it might be.

"It was a man with a strong vision."  
"Good eyes?"  
"Not this kind of vision… he wanted people to be equal."  
"…Communist.", Alasdair murmured sharply and smirked darkly towards Ivan – who in turn glared back.  
"Anyway, would you like to know more about the world… how it has become after you disappeared?", Ivan smiled friendly towards Atlantis.  
"A'd rather ye two come with me. Fran is waitin' at me station." 


	4. Breakfast Club

Good morning, good afternoon or whatever time you will read this.  
My native language is not English, so please excuse my poor grammar or use of words.

Pairing: A bit of ScotEng but also USUK… it's really mixed up

Rating: T

Genre: Adventure, School

Disclaimer:  
Nations belong into the real world. Hetalia belongs to Himaruya.

_

- This is my adaption of one of my favourite films, the 'Breakfast club', written and directed by John Hughes. -

_

"And these children that you spit on, As they try to change their world are  
immune to your consultations. They're quite aware of what they're going through.  
- David Bowie

"Dear Mr. Wang, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was that we did wrong, what we did was wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write this essay telling you who we think we are, what do you care? You see us as you want to see us… in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal. Correct?  
That's the way we saw each other at seven o'clock this morning.  
We were brainwashed…"

A usual Saturday morning, though this day had been prepared for a small group of five students to become a challenging day. A day to change their life. It was late march in 1984 in Illinois.  
The first one to arrive was the boy from the richer part of town, the prom prince and snob Arthur Kirkland.

"I can't believe you can't get me out of this. I mean it's so absurd to have to be here on a Saturday out of all days!", Arthur remarked with the British accent he had inherited from his parents who had moved recently to America. "It's not like I'm a defective or anything."

His father however was in the opinion that a lesson like this would be a good experience for his son.  
"Don't worry, I'll make it up to you. … Dear, ditching class to go shopping doesn't make you a defective. Have a good day."

Arthur rolled his eyes and got out of the car and walked up to the front steps leading into the large school building. It was a building probably built in the 19th century, with red bricks and white decorative elements.  
Inside, you could smell how many desperate students must have gone here, with tears, blood, sweat, and definitely with anger and worry on their mind on several mornings.

The last few generations of students had decided to make their own mark on the school. Some of the lockers had stickers, some of the trash bins on the floor had faint graffiti, and some of the red bricks bore carvings with lines like 'I hate Mondays' or 'I am going to puke', or other nasty remarks that no one really wanted to read.

The next candidate to arrive at school was Matthew Williams with his mother and sister. His mother had intended to go buy groceries after delivering her son. It was rather unusual for him to get detention on a Saturday, because he was the nerdy guy who would always score high on exams.

"Is this the first time or the last time we do this?", Matthew's mother asked her son.  
"…Last."  
"Well get in there and use the time to your advantage."  
"Mom we're not supposed to study, we just have to sit there and do nothing.", Matthew argued. He felt a bit betrayed by his mother. Did he not always do everything to make it right for her? To make her love him?

"Well mister, you figure out a way to study.", she gave him his lunch box as he got out of the car.  
"Yeah!", his little sister cried out.  
"Well go!"

Matthew walked towards the school building as his mother drove away, making space for the next car in which another detention student sat – with his father.  
This student was clearly a jock, one of the fancied football players from the school's team. He wore a letterman's jacket with lots of patches on there.

"Hey, I screwed around, guys screw around, there's nothing wrong with that. Except you got caught, sport.", the father friendly advised.  
"Yea, Mom already reemed me, alright?", Alfred replied. He was somewhat embarrassed.

Now Alfred's father got angry. "You wanna miss a match? You wanna blow your ride? Now no school's gonna give a scholarship to a discipline case."

Alfred didn't say anything anymore, stepped out of the car and walked towards the entrance.

A guy with velvet red hair also walked straight to school. He wore sunglasses as if the sun was really bright like that. A car came towards him but the redhead didn't react. The car had to slam on its breaks to manage to stop directly in front of him.

Out of the car came a rather tall guy with greyish hair and a big nose. Ivan Braginsky was one of the few originating from Russia which made him often an outsider.

Over in the library the students were made to sit for this Sunday instead of having detention in one of the classes. The tables are in two rows of three.  
Arthur comes in and takes the front table, Matthew joins in after and sits behind him. The high school jock comes in and sits on the chair next to Arthur since the blond doesn't mind having him there.

Alasdair, the redhead, comes into the library, touching everything on the checkout desk and misplacing a few things in the process. Instead of picking an empty seat, he points to where Matthew sits and silently asks him to go sit somewhere else.  
It's almost as if with the seating the hierarchy within the group is settled.  
Matthew however decides to not toss a fight and goes over to one of the last empty front desk.  
Alasdair seems content and places his feet up at the table.

The last one walks in and takes the seat in the back.

Finally, the teacher enters the library with a stack of papers in his left hand and pencils in his other. He is not very tall but you cannot blame him for he is Chinese. Nonetheless he is one of the strictest teachers on the whole school. No one really likes Mr. Wang.  
"Well, well…Here we are. I want to congratulate you for at least being on time, aru."

Arthur suggestively raised his hand and spoke up. "E-excuse me sir? I think there's been a mistake. I know it's detention, but … I don't think I belong in here."

Mr. Wang ignored him nonchalantly and continued. "It's now seven-oh-six. You have exactly Eight hours and fifty-four minutes to think about why you're here. To ponder the error of your ways."

Alasdair spat out and caught it with his mouth again. Arthur frowned at him and glared.

"…and you may not talk. You will not move from these seats, aru. And you…", Mr. Wang glared also at Alasdair, then walked up to him and pulled the table from under his feet. "…will not sleep. Alright people, we're going to try something a little different today. We are going to write an essay – of no less than a thousand words – describing to me who you think you are."

"Is it a test?", Alasdair asked as the paper and pencils were passed out.

"And when I say essay, I mean essay. I do not mean a single word repeated a thousand times. Is that clear Mr. Kirkland?"  
Alasdair looked up. "Crystal…"  
"Good. Maybe you'll learn a little something about yourself. Maybe you'll even decide whether or not you care to return, aru."

Matthew raised his hand and got up. "You know, I can answer that right now, Sir. That'd be 'No'. Not for me, because…"

"Sit down, Williams.", Mr. Wang said.  
"Thank you, Sir.", Matthew said and got back on his seat.

"My office…", Mr. Wang pointed at the door of the library. ".. is right across that hall. Any monkey business is ill-advised. …Any questions?"

"Aye, A got a question."  
Wang looked at him suspiciously.  
"Does Jackie Chan ken ye raid his wardrobe?"

"I'll give you the answer to that question, Mr. Kirkland, next Saturday. Don't mess with the bull young man, you'll get the horns, aru."

And with that, the enthusiastic teacher left the library.  
The students tried to get comfortable and try to make the best from that time.  
"That man… is a brownie hound.", Alasdair found.

Suddenly, a loud snapping sound can be heard. Matthew turns around to from where the sound comes. Ivan bites his nails.

A while is nothing but the snapping to be heard. Everyone looks at Ivan.  
"Ye keep eating yer hand and ye're not gonna be hungert fer lunch.", Alasdair warned.  
After shooting a glare, Ivan spat part of his nail at Alasdair.  
"I've seen ye before, ye ken…", the redhead replied.

Wang looked out from his office, almost like a warning.

"Who do I think I am… Who are you? Who are you…?", Matthew had started to play with the pen, trying to get an idea for the essay together obviously. Then he sticked the pen under his upper lip like a tusk. "I am a walrus…"

Alasdair looked at him in utter confusion. Matthew noticed that and chuckled to himself, a little embarrassed.

Matthew and Alasdair start to take off their jackets at the same time, as Matthew noticed that and stopped. Alasdair had also noticed it, but takes his all the way off, almost as if he enjoys doing that.  
Matthew seems to be a bit freezing and takes his jacket back on. "…it's the shits, huh?", Matt asks as he noticed that the irritating redhead still stared at him. He chuckled uncomfortably and turns away, trying to ignore the glare.

Being bored from annoying Matthew, Alasdair turned away and crumbled up his essay paper, then tossing it at Arthur. He misses, but still somewhat got Arthurs attention. The blond tries to ignore Alasdair the best he can.

Alasdair started to loudly 'sing' some instrumental part of a song. Not sure which.

"…can't believe this is really happening to me.", Arthur muttered under his breath.

Abruptly Alasdair stopped 'singing'. "Och, shit! What're we s'uposed to do if we have ta take a piss?"  
"…Please.", Arthur was disguisted.  
"If ye gotta go…", the sound of a zipper unzipping was heard. "…ye gotta go."  
"Oh my god!"

"Hey, you're not urinating in here man!", the high school jock hissed.  
"Don't talk, don't talk! It makes it crawl back up.", Alasdair complained.  
"You whip it out and you're dead before the first drop hits the floor.", Alfred warned.  
"Ye're pretty sexy when ye get angry….grrr~", the redhead mocked.

Then the redhead turned to Matthew again. "Hey, homeboy."  
Matthew was a bit perplex and looked at Alasdair.  
"Why don't ye go close that door and we have some threesome with that princess here?", he pointed at Arthur.  
Arthur turned around and shot him a glare.

"Hey!"  
Alasdair ignored Alfred.  
"Hey!", the blond with the cowlick repeated, angrily.  
"What?"  
"If I lose my temper, you're totalled, man!"  
"Totally?"  
"Totally!"

"Why don't you just shut up? Nobody here is interested.", Arthur huffed.  
"Really, you're a buttface.", Alfred hissed.

"Well hey Sporto. What'd ye do to get in here? Forget to wash yer jock?", Alasdair mocked.

"Uh, excuse me? I think we should just write our papers…", Matthew whispered.

"Look, just because you live in here doesn't give you the right to be a pain in the ass, so knock it off.", Alfred growled.  
"It's a free country."

"He's just doing it to get a rise out of you. Just ignore him.", Arthur told Alfred.  
"Sweets… ye couldn't ignore me if ye tried."  
Arthur rolled his eyes.

"So…so! Are you guys…", he looked between Arthur and Alfred. "gay with each other? Steady dates? Lovers? Come on Sporto, level with me… do ye slip him th' hot beef… injection?"  
"Go to hell!" "Enough!"

"Hey! What's going on in there?", Mr. Wang shouted from his office. "…smug little pricks."

Everyone looked at each other and Alfred turned away from the redhead. "…Scumbag."

Alasdair however found that it wasn't yet the time to give up. He got up and walked over to the railing which was a decorative part of the library.  
The school's library was a room quite illuminated and with a funny sculpture in the middle. The furniture was light wood and probably built in the 1970s. Overall, it gave a somewhat sterile impression of a glorious future for any student.

"What do ye say we close tha' door… We cannae have any kind o' party with Wang checkin' on us every few seconds.", Alasdair said.  
"You know the door's supposed to stay open.", Matthew replied.  
"So what?"  
"So why don't you just shut up! There's four other people in here, you know.", Alfred grunted.  
"God ye can count. See! A ken'd ye had ta be smart ta be a… a wrestler."  
"Who the hell are you to judge anybody anyway?", Alfred was irritated.  
"Really…", Arthur chimed in.

"You know, Kirkland, you don't even count…I mean if you disappeared forever, it wouldn't make a difference. You may as well not even exist at this school.", Alfred said sternly.

Alasdair was probably upset at this and paused a moment. If he really was angry or hurt, he didn't let his emotions out, however.  
"Well, A'll just run right out and join th' wrestling team."  
Alfred and Arthur looked at each other and snorted.  
"Maybe th' magic club too. Student council…", Alasdair looked at Arthur.

"No, they wouldn't take you.", Alfred said coldly.  
"A'm hurt…"  
"You know why guys like you knock everything."  
"Oh, this should be stunning…"  
"It's 'cause you're afraid."  
"Oh god, ye richies are so smart, that's exactly why A'm nah heavy in activities."  
"You're a big coward!"

"I'm… in the math club.", Matthew said to no one particular.

"See, you're afraid that they won't take you. You don't belong so you just have to dump all over it.", Arthur accused the redhead.  
"Well… it wouldn't have anything to do with ye activities people being assholes.. now would it?"  
"Well, you wouldn't know… you don't even know any of us."  
"Well, A din ken any lepers either, but A'm na gonna run out and join one o' their fockin' clubs."  
"Hey, let's watch the mouth, huh?", Alfred glared.

"…I'm in the physics club too.", Matthew added.

"S'cuse me a sec…", Alasdair said to Arthur, then looked at Matthew. "What are ye babblin' about?"  
"Well, what I said was…I'm in the math club, the latin club and the psychics… psychics club."

Alasdair nodded and turned back to Arthur. "Hey wee runt, do ye belong to th' psychics club?"  
"That's an academic club."  
"So?"  
"So…academic clubs aren't the same as other kinds of clubs."

"Oh, but to dorks like him they are.", he pointed at Matthew. "What do you guys do in your club?"  
"In psychics, um… we… ah, we talk about physics. About properties of psychics."  
"So it's sorta social…demented and sad, but social, right?"  
"Yeah, well, I guess you could consider it a social situation. I mean there are other children in my club and uh, at the end of the year we have, uhm, you know, a big banquet, at the… at the Hilton."  
"Ye load up, ye party…"  
"Well no, we get dressed up… I mean, but we don't… we don't get high."  
"Only burners like you get high.", Arthur scoffed.

"And uh, I didn't have any shoes, so I had to borrow my dad's. It was kinda weird 'cause my mom doesn't like me to wear other people's shoes. And uh, my cousin Kent…my cousin Kendall from, uh, Indiana… He got high once and you know he started eating like really weird foods. And uh, and then he just felt like he didn't belong anywhere. You know, kinda like, you know… Twilight Zone kinda."  
Arthur gave a dirty laugh. "Sounds like you.", he looked at Alasdair.

"Look, you guys keep up your talking and Wang's gonna come right in here.", Alfred warned. "I got a meet this Saturday and I'm not gonna miss it on account of you boneheads."  
"Oh, and wouldn't that be a bite…", Alasdair let out a moan of fake agony, which turned into a smirk right away. "Missing a whole wrestling meet…"  
"Well you wouldn't know anything about it, faggot! You never competed in your whole life!"  
"Och, A ken… A feel all empty inside because of it. A have such a deep admiration fer guys that roll around in th' mud with other guys."  
"Ahh, you'd never miss it. You don't have any goals."

"Oh, but A do."

"Yeah?"  
"A wanna be juist like ye! I figure all A need's a labotamy and some tights."

"You wear tights?", Matthew asked curiously and looked over at Alfred – who blushed a little.  
"No, I don't wear tights, I wear the required uniform."  
"…tights."  
"Shut up!"

Alasdair hears Wang moving around in the hall, so he quickly scoops over to sit between Arthur and Alfred. He folds his hand on the table and puts on an innocent look. As he notices that Wang just goes back into his office, he lets out a snort and gets back up, heading towards the door.

"Y-you know there's not supposed to be any monkey business.", Matthew hisses over to the redhead.  
But Alasdair just turns around and points at the soft boy. "Young man, have you finished your paper?"  
His attention is brought back to the door. He looks around cautiously and then removes a screw from the door, causing the mechanism to stop from holding it open…

"What are you gonna do?", Arthur excitedly hissed.  
"Drop dead, I hope…", Alfred assumed.  
"Kirkland, that's school property here. You know, it doesn't belong to us. It's something not to be toyed with."

The door however slams shut and Alasdair runs back to his seat, satisfied with his handwork.

"That's very funny. Come on, fix it.", Alfred demands.  
"You should really fix that.", Matthew agrees.  
"Am A a genius?"  
"No, you're an asshole."  
"What a funny guy…"  
"Fix the door, Kirkland!"  
"Everyone just shhhh.", Alasdair grins.

A while nothing happened, but then Wang stormed in and looked very pissed. "Why is that door closed?", he hissed.  
For a few moments no one said anything, they just started at Wang like he had just told them he had cooked Dinner for them.  
"Why is that door closed, aru?", Mr. Wang repeated.

"How are we supposed ta know? We're not supposed to move, right?", Alasdair replied, trying to be all casual. He had decided to play innocent.

Wang however didn't believe his words and turned to Arthur. "Why?"  
"We were just sitting here, like we were supposed to…"  
"Who closed that door?", Wang looked at Alasdair, knowing very well who had been it.  
"A think a screw fell out of it…", the redhead replied.  
"It just closed, sir.", Alfred added… which was surprising regarding how he protected Alasdair by lying.

"Who?", Wang turned to Ivan who had been silent for most of the time so far.  
Ivan however decided not to change that, gave a squeak and hid his face with the table's surface, causing his hood to fall over his head.  
"He doesnah talk, sir.", Alasdair informed Mr. Wang.

"Give me that screw.", Wang demanded, towards Alasdair.  
"A din have it."  
"You want me to yank you out of that seat and shake it out of you?"  
"A din have it. Screws fall out all o' the time, the world's an imperfect place…"  
"Give it to me, Kirkland."

"Excuse me sir, Why would anybody want to steal a screw?", Arthur asked.  
"Watch it, young man."

Wang went over to the door, attempting to hold it open by putting a folding chair in front of it.  
"The door's way too heavy, sir.", Alasdair calmly told him.  
The door slammed shut despite the chair, apparently cooperating with the redhead. Wang cursed wildly.  
He came back in and pointed at Alfred, the high school jock.  
"Alfred Jones, get up here. Come on, front and center, let's go."

Alfred did as he was told and walked over to Wang, who had something planned to keep the door open.  
"Hey, how come Alfred gets to get up? If he gets up, we'll all get up. It'll be anarchy!", Alasdair complained.  
There was a large steel rack with magazines which Wang and Alfred tried to push towards the door.  
"It's out of my hands.", Alasdair theatrically threw his hands into the air.

Certainly, the rack was so big that it blocked the entire door.  
"That's very clever sir, but what if there's a fire? I think violating fire codes and endangering the lives of children would be unwise at this juncture in your career, sir.", Alasdair remarked dryly.

Wang made a shocked face and turned immediately to Alfred. "Alright, what are you doing with this? Get this out of here for god's sake! What's the matter with you? Come on!"

"You know the school comes equipped with fire exits at either end of the library.", Matthew informed and pointed towards them… however received a glare from Alasdair.

Alfred and Wang came back to the desks. "Let's go…go! Get back to your seat. I expected a little more from a varsity letterman!"  
Then he turned to Alasdair. "You're not fooling anybody, Kirkland! The next screw that falls out is going to be you, aru!"

Wang was about to leave, but then Alasdair muttered something under his breath.  
"…What was that?"  
"EAT! ME! SHORTS!", the redhead said loud.

"You just bought yourself another Saturday, mister."  
"Oh, Christ…"  
"You just bought one more right there."  
"Well, A'm free the Saturday after that…beyond that, A'm gonna have ta check me calendar."  
"Good. Because it's going to be filled. We'll keep going, aru. You want another one? Say the word, just say the word! Instead of going to prison, you'll come here. Are you through?"  
"No!"  
"I'm doing society a favour!"

"So?"  
That's another one, right now! I've got you for the rest of your natural born life if you don't watch your step! You want another one?"  
"Aye!"  
"You got it! You got another one, right there! That's another one, pal."

Arthur grew worried and furrowed his brows. "Cut it out.", he mouthed the word 'stop' to Alasdair.

"You through?", Wang asked gingerly.  
"Not even close, bud."  
"Good. You got one more right there."  
"Do ye really think A give a shit?"  
"Another…"  
Alasdair glared at the teacher.

"You through?"  
"…How many is that?", Alasdair asked, irritated.

"That's seven including the one when we first came in and you asked Mr. Wang whether Jackie Chan knew that he raided his closet.", Matthew helpfully instructed.

"Now it's eight.", Wang looked at Matthew. "You stay out of it."  
"Excuse me sir, it's seven!", Matthew insisted.  
"Shut up, Peewee!", he turned back to Alasdair. "You're mine, Kirkland. For two months. I got you…I got you!"  
"What can A say? A'm thrilled!"

"Oh, I'm sure that's exactly what you want these people to believe. You know something, Kirkland? You ought to spend a little more time trying to do something with yourself and a little less time trying to impress people, aru. You might be better off.", then he turned towards everyone. "Alright, that's it! I'm going to be right outside those doors. The next time I have to come in here…I'm cracking skulls!"  
Alasdair still had the nerve to mouth the words along 'I'm cracking skulls'.

Wang left the library and closed the door.  
Alasdair just shouted a curse behind the strict teacher… that better be left unrepeated.

Ticking clock showed that it was only a quarter to eight. They had only passed about 45 minutes. Not a lot when you have to sit on detention for almost 9 hours… on a Saturday. So many things to do that are better than hanging around on a Saturday. For example meeting with friends, listening to music, doing some sports…  
Instead those five kids were stuck in an old smelly room with lots and lots of books.  
Even for Matthew, who was the smartest of the group it was punishment for he was not allowed to touch any of those books. And he was too shy to step over the lines…

No one knew how much time had passed until Wang stood before the students again, but everyone had fallen asleep.  
"Wake up! …Who has to go to the lavatory?"  
Everyone raised their hands.

After everyone had been going to the lavatory and then come back to the library, the kids were refreshed.  
It was still not that much later. Not even 11 a.m.

Alfred stretched, still quite bored. Alasdair sat on the rail and ripped pages out of a book and tossed them around.  
"That's real intelligent.", Alfred remarked.  
"Yer right, it's wrong ta destroy literature…", he continued to tear pages out however, calling his words lies. "It's such fun to read… and, Molet really pumps my nads."  
"Mol-yare…", Arthur pronounced it slowly for the redhead.  
"...love his work.", Alasdair replied with a grin.

He tossed the rest of the pages at Matthew, obviously bored. The next victim was a card catalogue drawer where he begin to take the cards out. "Big deal…nothing to do when yer locked in a vacancy."  
"Speak for yourself.", Alfred replied.  
"Do ye think A'd speak fer ye? A din even ken yer language!"

Alfred however turned to Arthur, ignoring Alasdair. "Hey, you grounded tonight?"  
Arthur just shrugged. "I don't know…my mom said I was but dad told me to just blow her off."  
"Big party at Toni's, parents are in Europe. Should be pretty wild."  
"yes?"  
"Yeah, can you come?"  
"I doubt it…"  
"How come?"  
"Well, because if I do what my mother tell me not to do, it's because my father says it's okay. There's like this whole big monster deal, it's endless and it's a total drag. It's like any minute divorce."

"Who do ye like better?"  
"What?", Arthur looked up, irritated at the redhead.  
"Ye like yer auld man better than yer Ma?"  
"They're both strict."  
"Nah, A mean… if ye had ta choose between them."  
"I don't know. I'd probably go live with my brother…I mean, I don't think either of them gives a shit about me. It's like they use me just to get back at each other."

"HA!", that had come from Ivan who had not spoken all morning. Arthur however told him to shut up.

"You're just feeling sorry for yourself.", Alfred said to Arthur.  
"Yea… well if I didn't, nobody else would."  
"Aw, you're breaking my heart."  
"Sporto…", Alasdair said, with a hint of warning in his voice.

"What?"  
Alasdair jumped down from the rail and went next to him. "Ye get along with yer parents?"  
"Well if I say yes, I'm an idiot, right?"  
"Ye're an idiot anyway. But if ye say ye get along with yer parents ye're a liar too."

Alasdair turned away from Alfred, like he had found something more interesting the other way. Alfred however felt challenged and pushed him. "You know something, man. If we weren't in school right now, I'd waste you!"  
Alasdair remained calm and pointed to the floor with his middle finger. "Hear this? Want me ta turn it up fer ye?", he turned to Alfred and gave him the bird.

"Hey fellas…I mean…", Matthew got over to the two and put a hand on each of the guy's shoulder. "I don't like my parents either. I don't… get along with them. Their ideas of parental compassion is just… you know.. wacko."  
"…Dork.", Alasdair shook his head.  
"Mh?"  
"Ye're a parent's wet dream, Aye?"

The redhead started to walk away.  
"Well, that's a problem.", Matthew insisted as Alfred also walked out of his grasp.  
"Look, A can see ye getting' all bunged up fer them makin' ye wear these kind o' clothes.", Alasdair referred to Matthew's poor taste of fashion that clearly represented him being a dress up doll for his parents. "But face it, ye're a Neo-Maxi-Zoom-Dweebie. What would ye be doin' if ye weren't out makin' yersel' a better citizen?"

"Why do you have to insult everybody?", Alfred was annoyed over Alasdair, just like most of the time.  
"A'm bein' honest, asshole. A would expect ye ta ken th' difference."  
"Yea well, he's got a name."  
"Aye?"  
"Yea…What's your name?", Alfred turned to Matthew.  
"…Matthew."  
"See?"

"…My condolences.", Alasdair huffed and turned around.

"What's your name?", Arthur asked.  
"What's yers?", he replied, still not having turned around.  
"Arthur."  
"Arse-Ar?"  
"Arthur… like the king."  
"So this must be why ye act lik' a princess. Think blue blood runs in yer veins. A'm pretty sure yer parents thought ye were a girl fer most o' th' time in yer early childhood."  
"What?"  
"An' gave ye dresses an' pink bows fer yer angelic blond hair~"  
Arthur grunted and gave him the finger.

"Och, obscene finger gestures from such a pristine guy."  
"I'm not that pristine."  
Alasdair sat before Arthur and came down close on him. "Are ye a virgin? …A'll bet ye a million dollars tha' ye are. Let's end th' suspense..it is gonna be…a white weddin'?"  
"Why don't you just shut up!", Arthur hissed, all red in his face.

"Have ye ever kissed someone on the mouth? Ever been felt up? Under th' shirt, shoes off… hopin' god yer parents din walk in?"  
"Do you want me to puke?!"  
"Over th' panties, no shirt, Calvin's in a ball on the front seat past eleven on a school night?"  
"Leave him alone!", Alfred interrupted the cheeky redhead.

"I said leave him alone!"  
"Ye gonna make me?"  
"Yea…"  
Alasdair slowly walked up to Alfred like an angry tiger about to attack. "Ye… and how many o' yer friends?"  
"Just me, Just you and me. Two hits. Me hitting you, you hitting the floor. Anytime you're ready, pal."

Alasdair went to hit him, but Alfred got Alasdair down with a wrestling move.  
"A din wanna get into to this with ye, man…"  
Both get back up. "Why not?"  
"'cause A'd kill ye. It's real simple. I'd kill ye and yer fockin' parents would sue me and it would be a big mess and A din care enough about ye ta bother."  
"Chicken shit."

Alfred turned and walked away. Alasdair however took out a switchblade and opened it. But instead of doing something with it, he stabbed it into a chair.

"Let's end this right now. You don't talk to him. You don't look at him and you don't even think about him. You understand me?", Alfred wanted to make sure that Alasdair wouldn't bother Arthur again. He found liking into the smaller blonde.  
"A'm tryin' ta help him."

Ivan silently reached and grabbed the switchblade, claiming it as his.

The janitor came in, unannounced. The janitor was actually also looking too good for his business and some of the students were confused at first. Somehow the man had managed to stay invisible for most days… or he just came to work as most students had left the campus.  
"Matthieu, how are you doing?", the janitor said and smiled towards Matthew.

"Yer dad works here?", Alasdair furrowed his brows. Yes, actually Matthew and the Janitor had some resemblance…both had long silky blond hair. Matthew however was embarrassed.  
"Uh, Francis?", everyone called the janitor just Francis.  
"Oui?"  
"Can A ask ye a question?"  
"Sure."  
"How does one become a janitor?"  
"You want to be one?"  
"Nah, A juist wanna ken how one becomes a janitor because Alfred here is very interested in pursuing a career in the custodial arts.", sometimes it was unfitting how well-mannered Alasdair's language was. He was probably just as smart as Matthew.

"Oh really? You guys think I'm just some untouchable peasant? Peon? Huh? Maybe so, but following a broom around after shitheads like you for the past eight years I've learnt a couple of things. I look through your letters, through your lockers… I listen to your conversations, you don't know that but I do. I am the eyes and ears of this institution my friends. By the way, that clock's twenty minutes fast."  
Everyone groaned.

It was 11.30, Wang went over to look after the students since it was lunch time.

Alasdair started to whistle a marching tune and surprisingly everybody joined in, disregarding the fact that the bloke had been an ass to them from the start. However, when Mr. Wang entered, the redhead whistles the first few tunes of Beethoven's 5th symphony.  
"Alright girls, that's thirty minutes for lunch."  
"Here?", Alfred wondered.  
"Here."  
"Well I think the cafeteria would be a more suitable place for us to eat lunch, sir."  
"I don't care what you think, Alfred."  
"Uh, Dick… Excuse me, Yao…will milk be made available ta us?", Alasdair asked as if he was the Chinese man's closest friend.  
"We're extremely thirsty sir.", Alfred confirmed.  
"I have a very low tolerance for dehydration.", Arthur said.  
"I've seen him dehydrate, sir. It's pretty gross."

Alasdair got up. "Relax, I'll get it."  
"Ah, ah, ah, grab some wood there, bub. What do you think, I was born yesterday? You think I'm going to have you roaming these halls, aru?", Wang pointed at Alfred, then at Ivan. "You and you…hey, what's-his-name? Wake him. Wake him up. Come on, on your feet. Let's go this is no rest home."

Ivan and Alfred got up and walked to the door.  
"There's a soft drink machine in the teacher's lounge. Let's go.", Wang told them.

"So what's your poison?", Alfred asked after walking down the hallway with Ivan in complete silence. Still, Ivan didn't answer.  
"…What do you drink?"  
Still no answer.  
"Okay, forget I asked…"

"Vodka."  
"Vodka? When do you drink Vodka?"  
"…Whenever."  
"A lot?"  
Ivan started to smile… which actually looked quite charming. "Tons."

"Is that why you're here today?"  
Ivan didn't answer again. Alfred noticed a Russian accent, repeating what the other had said in his mind.  
"Why are you here?"  
"Why are you here?", Ivan snapped back.

They stopped walking and Alfred leaned against the wall, a bit embarrassed. "Uhm…I'm here today…because my coach and my father don't want me to blow my ride. ..See I get treated differently because…Coach thinks I'm a winner. So does my old man. I'm not a winner because I wanna be one. I'm a winner because I got strength and speed. Kinda like a race horse. That's about how involved I am in what's happening to me."

"Da? That's very interesting. Now why don't you tell me why you're really in here?"  
"Forget it."

Back in the library the remaining students sit and wait for the drinks.  
"Arthur… ye wanna see a picture o' a girl with elephantitus of the vag? It's pretty tasty."  
"No thanks."  
"How do ye think she rides a bike?"  
Arthur rolled his eyes and turned away in disguist.  
"Och Arthur, would ye ever consider dating a girl like this?"  
"Can't you just leave me alone?"  
"A mean if he had a great personality and was good dancer and had a cool car. Although ye'd probably have ta ride in th' back seat because her vag would ride shotgun."

"You know what I wish I was doing?"  
"Op, watch what you say, Matt here is a cherry."  
"A cherry?"

"I wish I was on a plane to England.", Arthur dreamily said.

"I'm not a cherry.", Matthew complained.  
"When have ye ever gotten laid?"  
"I've laid, lotsa times!"  
"Name one."  
"She lives in Canada, met her at Niagara falls. You wouldn't know here."  
"Ever laid anyone around here?"  
Matthew pointed towards Arthur who didn't see that…  
"Oh, ye and Arthur did it?", Alasdair looked surprised.

Arthur spun around. "What are you talking about?"  
"N-nothing, nothing.", Matthew grew nervous. "Let's just drop it, we'll talk about it later, okay? okay."  
"No! Drop what? What're you talking about?"  
"Well, Matt's tryin' ta tell me tha' in addition to th' number o' girls in the Niagara Falls area, tha' presently ye and he are, ridin' th' hobby horse.", Alasdair explained.  
"Little pig!", Arthur hissed towards Matthew.  
"No, I'm not! Alasdair said I was a cherry and I said I wasn't… that's it… that's all that was said!"

"Well, then what were ye motioning to Arthur fer?"  
"You know, I don't appreciate this very much, Matthew.", Arthur furrowed his brows, looking angry.  
"He is lying!", Matthew squeaked.  
"Oh, ye weren't motioning to Arthur?"  
"You know he's lying, right?"  
"Were ye, or were ye not motioning to Arthur?"  
"…Yeah I was but it was only… was only because I didn't want him to know that I was a virgin, okay?", Matthew was flustered and embarrassed.  
Alasdair stared at him with big eyes.

"Excuse me for being a virgin. I'm sorry."  
Arthur laughed. "Why didn't you want me to know you were a virgin?"  
"Because it's personal business. It's my personal, private business."  
"Well Matt, it doesn't sound like ye're doin' any business at all…"  
"I think it's fine to be a virgin…"

Later everybody finally had their lunches. Arthur started to take out his out of a small shopping bag.  
"What's in there?", Alasdair asked curiously.  
"Guess. Where's your lunch?"  
"Ye're wearin' it."  
"You're nauseating.", Arthur grunted.

Alasdair grabbed one of the coke cans and tossed it over to Ivan who catched it without even looking up. Arthur's bag reveals a sushi platter.  
"What's that?"  
"Sushi."  
"Sushi?"  
"Rice, raw fish and seaweed. It's from Japan."  
"Ye won't accept a guys tongue in yer mouth and ye're gonna eat tha'?"  
"Can I eat?"  
"A din ken…? Give it a try.", Alasdair looked at the Sushi platter like it was something utterly dangerous… but Arthur knew how to handle it.

Alfred took out a couple of sandwiches out of his bag, then a bag of potato chips, an apple, a banana, a bag of cookies and a carton of milk.

Ivan opens his coke and it fizzed over due to the tossing. He loudly slurped it off the table. Then he opened his sandwich and tossed the meat from it over his shoulder… it landed in the 'face' of the sculpture behind. Then he opened a few sugar sticks and poured the sugar on the sandwich, followed by Cereals on top of each slice of white bread. After having crunched them flat and once more as to press the sandwich back together, Ivan ate sound fully.  
The rest of the group watched quite astonished. Now this was a stylish lunch.

Alasdair walks over and sits next to Matthew who was about to take his lunch out. The redhead snatchs the bag from Matthews hands. "What are we havin'?"  
"Uh, it's your standard, regular lunch, I guess…", Matthew weakly replies.  
Alasdair reaches into the bag and pulls out a thermos. He sets it on the table. "Milk?"  
"Soup."

The next thing the bag reveals is a juice box. Matthew reached towards the bag but Alasdair swatted his hand casually as he continued to pack out.  
"That's apple juice.", Matthew informed.  
"…A can read.", Alasdair looked irritated at the blond with the glasses as he packed out the last item from the bag. "PB & J with the crusts cut off…Well Matt, this is a very nutritious lunch. All the food groups are represented. Did your mom marry Mr. Rogers?"  
(Author: Mr. rogers is a health education role model)

"uh, no.. Mr. Williams."  
"Ahh…"

"Here's my impression of life at big Matt's house!", Alasdair announced. Alfred and Arthur chuckled.  
" 'Son!'  
'Yeah Dad?'  
'How's your day, pal?'  
'Great dad, how's your's?'  
'Super, say son, how'd you like to go fishing this weekend?'  
'Great Dad, but I've got homework to do…'  
'That's alright son, you can do it on the boat!'  
'Weee~'  
'Dear, isn't our son well?'  
'Yes dear, isn't life well?'"  
He then mimed mother and father kissing and more kissing.

"Alright, what about your family?", Alfred demanded to know. Suddenly it wasn't so funny anymore.  
Alasdair stood again and pointed forward, firstly speaking as his father.  
" 'Stupid, worthless, no good, god damned, freeloading, son of a bitch, retarded, bigmouth, know it all, asshole, jerk!'"  
Then he altered the voice to sound like his mother. " 'You forgot ugly, lazy and disrespectful.'"  
Alasdair slammed his hand back to slap his invisible mother and continued to talk like his father. " 'Shaddup, bitch! Go fix me a turkey pot pie!' – 'What about you Dad?' – 'Fock ye!' – 'No Dad, what about you?' – 'Fock ye!' - 'No Dad, what about you?' – 'Fock ye!'  
Then he mimed his father beating up him.

"…Is that for real?", Matthew said, feeling pity.  
"Ye wanna come over sometime?"  
"That's bullshit. It's all part of your image. I don't believe a word of it.", Alfred scoffed.

Alasdair looked actually hurt. "Ye din believe me?  
"No."  
"No?"  
"Did I stutter?"  
Alasdair got over to Alfred and rolls up his right sleeve to reveal a circular shaped burn. "Do ye believe this? Huh? It's about th' size o' a vigar. Do A stutter? Ye see, this is what ye get in me house when ye spill a drop o' paint in th' garage."

Alasdair walked away like a stray tiger, then climbed up to the second floor balcony of the library like it was nothing. "See, this is why A din think tha' A need ta sit here with ye fockin' shit anymore!"

"…You shouldn't have said that.", Arthur muttered to Alfred.  
"How would I know? I mean he lies about everything anyway…"

In the meantime, Wang had his own little lunchtime with orange and chai tea. However, the tea decided to get lost on the way from the thermos to the cup. Wang cursed and had to get out of his office.

A few moments after that, Alasdair walked out of the library, followed by the other four like ducklings.  
"How do you know where Wang went?", Arthur demanded to know.  
"A din."  
"Well then, how do you know when he'll be back?"  
"A din. Being bad feels pretty good, mh?", Alasdair smiled. Apparently his mood had been fixed.

"What's the point in going to Alasdair's locker?", Matthew whispered to Alfred.  
"Beats me."  
"This is so stupid. Why do you think we are risking getting caught?"  
"I dunno.", Alfred was nervous himself. Matthew didn't help him at all.  
"So then what are we doing?"  
"You ask me one more question and I'm beating the shit out of you."  
"Sorry."

Finally they had reached the locker.  
"Slob."  
Alasdair rolled his eyes. "My maid's on vacation.", he pulled out a bag of marijuana.  
"Drugs?", Matthew got excited.  
"Screw that. Put it back!", Alfred hissed.

"Tha's me lunchtime.", Alasdair murmured and walked away.

"Drugs… the boy had marijuana.", Matthew blinked.  
Arthur walked after Alasdair and the others followed like pearls on a string.  
"That was marijuana!", Matthew exclaimed.  
"Shut up.", Alfred hissed.  
"Do you approve of this?"

Ivan snatched the lock from Alasdair's locker as he followed the group.

"We'll cross through the lab, and then we'll double back.", Alasdair suggested.  
"You better be right. If Wang cuts us off it's your fault, asshole."  
"What'd he say? Where are we going?"

The group of five ran across each and every hallway, and not few times almost met up with Wang. That guy was everywhere! At first, everyone except Ivan had been running but after a while even he joined and it seemed almost this little cat and mouse play created some fun for those odd companions.

"Wait…wait, hold it.", Alasdair breathlessly said. "We have to go through th' cafeteria."  
"No, the activities hall.", Alfred suggested.  
"Hey man, ye din ken what ye're talkin' about."  
"No you don't know what you're talking about."  
Ivan squeaked.

"Now we're through listening to you. We're going this way."  
They all follow Alfred now and end up running into a hall closed by an iron gate…

"Shit!", Alfred rattled on the gate.  
"Great Idea jagoff…"  
"Fuck you!", Alfred hissed.  
"No, fuck you!", Arthur growled. "Why didn't you listen to Alasdair?"  
"We're dead…", Matthew huffed.

"Nah… just me."  
"What do you mean?"  
"Get back to the library. Keep yer unit on this.", Alasdair shoved the bag with marijuana down Matthew's pants and ran away singing loudly 'A wanna be an airborne ranger'.

Wang of course heard Alasdair and went after him, as the rest of the group ran quite safely towards the library.  
Wang found the guy in the gym playing basketball.

"Three, two, one…", the redhead dribbled the ball and made a few steps before he dunked the ball.  
"Kirkland! Kirkland! Kirkland! What is this? What are you doing here? What is this?", the teacher asked irritated.  
"Och, hi…", Alasdair kept dribbling the ball again.  
"Out! That's it, Kirkland! Out, it's over!"  
"Din ye wanna hear me excuse?"  
"Out!"  
"A'm thinking o' tryin' out for a scholarsheep~", he aimed at the basket once again.  
"Give me that ball, Kirkland."

Alasdair faked the ball at Wang, who flinched, then set it down to roll it safely towards the Chinese. Wang however kicked it back at Alasdair who just managed to slip out of the white sport shoes he had put on.  
The two of them left the gym.

Wang pushed Alasdair into the library where the other kids sat on their seats like it had never been different.  
"Get your stuff, let's go!", Wang growled. "Mr. Wiseguy here has taken it upon himself to go to the gym. I'm sorry to inform you, you're going to be without his services for the rest of the day."  
"Boohoo~", Alasdair cooed as he grabbed his jacket.  
"Everything's a big joke, huh Kirkland? The false alarm you pulled, Friday, false alarms are really funny, aren't they? What if your home, what if your family… what if your dope was on fire?"  
"Tha's impossible sir… it's in Williams' pants."  
Alfred snorted.

"You think he's funny? You think this is cute, aru? You think he's bitching, is that it? Let me tell you something. Look at him, he's a bummer. You want to see something funny? You go visit Alasdair Kirkland in five years! You'll see how goddamn funny he is! …What's the matter, Alasdair? You're going to cry? Let's go, aru."  
Wang grabbed Kirklands shoulder and pushed him forward.  
"Hey, keep yer fockin' hands aff me! A expected better manners fra ye, dick!"

Passing Alfred's table, Alasdair tossed his sunshades onto it. "Fer better hallway vision."

Alasdair is being pushed into a narrow closet with other random stuff standing around.  
"That's the last time, Kirkland. That's the last time you ever make me look bad in front of those kids. Do you hear me? I make 31,000 Dollar a year and I have a home and I'm not about to throw it away on some punk like you, aru. But someday, man, someday, when you're out of here and you have forgotten all about this place…and they have forgotten all about you and you're wrapped up in your own pathetic life… I'm going to be there. That's right. And I'm going to kick the living shit out of you, aru. I'm gonna knock your head into the dirt!"

"Are ye threatening me?"

"What are you going to do about it? You think anybody's going to believe you? You think anybody's going to take your word over mine? I'm a man of respect around here. They love me around here, I'm a cool guy, aru. You're a lying sack of shit. And everybody knows it. Oh, you're a real tough guy. Come on, come on, get on your feet, pal! Let's find out how tough you are! I want to know right now how tough you are!", Wang took up his fists. "Come on, I'll give you the first punch. Let's go. Come on, right here, just take the first shot. Please, I'm begging you, take a shot. Come on, just take one shot, that's all I need. Just one swing…"

Alasdair just sat there, staring at the teacher. He faked a punch at the redhead who in turn flinched.  
"That's what I thought… you're a gutless turd, aru.", Wang left and locked the closet door after him.

Alasdair looked around him, then found the hatch above in the ceiling. Luckily, there was enough junk in the closet so he could climb up and get out.  
Then he walked through the heating duct which probably could bring him out. After a while he started to murmur a story… a bit entertainment was never wrong, right?  
"A naked blond walks into a bar, with a poodle under one arm and two foot salami under the other. She lays the poodle on the table. Bartender says: I suppose you won't be needing a drink. The naked lady says -  
Suddenly, the ceiling beneath him gives way and he falls through – landing in an office on the second floor of the library.

Wang noticed the noise coming from the library and dashes towards it. "Almighty…"

"A forgot me pencil.", Alasdair casually says as he comes down the stairs to the others.

Not much later, Wang bursts through the door into the library. "What was that ruckus?!"  
"Uh, what ruckus?", Alfred asked innocently.  
"I was just in my office and I heard a ruckus."  
"Could you describe the ruckus, sir?", Matthew asked.  
"Watch your tongue, young man, watch it!", Wang hisses.

Alasdair was under Arthur's table seated between the blond's legs. He groaned.  
Above the table, Alfred and Arthur try to take credit for the noise by making more noise.  
"What is that? What… What is that noise?"

Under the table, Alasdair is just naughty and sees how Arthur's fly is open. He comes closer to it.  
"What noise?"  
"Really sir, there wasn't any noise…", Arthur suddenly squealed and the sound of a zipper is heard. Accidentally, he squeezes Alasdair's head between his knees.  
Suddenly, everyone has a coughing fit.  
"Th-that noise? Was that the noise you were talking about?", Arthur asked nervously.

"No, it wasn't. That was not the noise… Now, I may not have caught you in the act this time, but you can bet I will!"  
Ivan laughed at wang.  
"You make book on that, Mister! And you!", he looked back at Arthur. "I will not be made a fool of."

He turns and walks away. He still had toilet paper stuck to his shoe.

Everyone laughed as the teacher had finally left, except Arthur who gave Alasdair a shower of slaps as he came out.  
"It was an accident.", he complained.  
"You're an asshole!", Arthur grunted.  
"So sue me…"

"So, Ahab… Kybo me doobage.", Alasdair walked up to Matthew and held his hand open.  
Matt gave him the bag of marijuana. After this, the redhead walked off with it.  
"Yo waistoid. You're not gonna blaze up in here.", Alfred frowned.

Arthur got up and followed Alasdair, followed by Matthew. After letting out a curse, Alfred joined them.

After a while, hysterical laughter could be heard coming from Arthur, Alasdair and Matthew. They had arranged themselves in a circles and let the joint go around.  
"Do you know how popular I am? I'm so popular, everybody loves me so much at this school~", Arthur slurred.  
"Poor baby.", Alasdair mocked.

Alfred had probably joined them as well, because as he comes out from a really smokey room, he inhales another puff and starts dancing to everybody's applause. Apparently the teacher's alertness had gone down.

A while later, the five of them sit together up in the security of the second floor.  
"No no, man, no… you got a middle name?", Matthew looked at Alfred.  
"Yeah, guess…"

"Your middle name is Franklin, like Benjamin Franklin…", Ivan suddenly said, taking interest in the conversation. "Your birthday is July 4th, you're a five-nine and a half, you weigh a hundred and thirty pounds and your social security number is 0-4-9-3-8-0-9-1…3."  
The two blondes are surely impressed.  
"Wow, are you psychic?"  
"No…", Ivan reached into his bag. "I stole your wallet."  
"Give it to me!"  
"No."  
"Give it!"

Ivan reluctantly handed over the wallet and Alfred quickly scurried through it to see if something was missing. "This is great… you're a thief too, huh?"  
"I'm not a thief.", Ivan protested.  
"Multi-talented."  
"What's there to steal? Two bucks and a beaver shot."  
"A what?", Matthew asked.  
"He's got a nudie picture in there. I saw it. It's perverted.", Ivan explained.

In the meantime, Arthur and Alasdair enjoyed themselves… Alasdair discovered Arthur's bag while Arthur checked out Alasdair's wallet. "Are all these your girlfriends?"  
"Some of them…"  
"What about the others?"  
"Well, some A consider me lassies… an' some A juist consider… whether or nah A wanna hang out with 'em."  
"You don't believe in just one guy, one girl?"  
"Do ye?", Alasdair had found a comb in Arthur's bag and ran it through his reddish hair.  
"Yeah, that's the way it should be."  
"Well, nah fer me."  
"Why not?"

Alasdair didn't really want to answer that. "How come ye got so much shit in yer bag?"  
"How come you have so many girlfriends?"  
"A asked ye first."  
Arthur shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I never throw anything away."  
"See? Neither do A."  
"…Oh."

"This is the worst fake ID I've ever seen.", Alfred chuckled as he looked through Matthew's wallet.  
Matthew laughed.  
"Do you realise you made yourself sixty eight?"  
"Oh, I know, I know...I goofed it."  
"What do you need a fake ID for?"  
"So I can vote.", Matthew raised his eyebrows.

"You want to see what's in my bag?", Ivan asked them.  
"No.", the two blondes answered together.  
But Ivan dumped the content of his bag between them anyway.  
"Holy shit! What is all that stuff?!"  
"Do you always carry this much shit in your bag?"  
"Yea, I always carry this much shit in my bag… You never know when you may have to jam…"  
"Are you gonna be like a shopping bag guy? You know like, sit in alleyways and like talk to buildings and wear women's skirts and that kinda thing?"  
"I'll do what I have to do…"

"Why do you have to do anything?"  
"My home life is… un…satisfying.", Ivan replied with an uncanny sensuality.  
"So you're saying you'd subject yourself to the violent dangers of the Chicago streets because your home life is unsatisfying?", Matthew concluded.  
"I don't have to run away and live on the street. I can run away and go to the ocean, to the country, to the mountains. I can go to Israel, Africa, Afghanistan…"

"Alfred… you wanna get in on this? Ivan here says, he wants to run away, because her home life is unsatisfying."  
"Well everyone's home lives are unsatisfying. If it wasn't people would life with their parents forever."  
Yea, yea I understand. But I think that his goes beyong… you know what guys like you and me consider normal unsatisfying…"  
"Nevermind, forget it, everything's cool…", Ivan starts putting back everything into his bag.

"What's the deal?"  
"No, there's no deal, Sporto.", Ivan glared at Alfred. "Forget it, leave me alone."  
"Wait a minute. Now you're carrying all that crap around in your bag. Either you really wanna run away or you want people to think you wanna run away."  
"Eat shit!", Ivan got up and walked away.

"That man is an island, with himself. Okay?", Matthew said to Alfred – who however followed the tall teen.

"Hey, you wanna talk?"  
"No."  
"Why not?"  
"Go away."  
"Where do you want me to go?", Alfred asked irritated.  
"GO away!"

Alfred turned away and Ivan started to cry silently. "You have problems…"  
"Oh, I have problems?"  
"You do everything everybody ever tells you to do, that's a problem."  
"Okay, fine. But I didn't dump my bag out on the floor and invite people into my problems, did I? So what's wrong? What is it? Is it bad? Real bad? Parents?"  
"…Yeah."  
"What do they do to you?"  
"…Nothing… they ignore me."  
"Yea…yea…", Alfred also starts to cry a bit.

Later on, the two minor groups had joined back together in a big circle.  
"What would I do for a million bucks? Well, I guess I'd do as little as I had to…", Alfred said.  
"That's boring.", Arthur complained.  
"Well, how am I supposed to answer?"  
"The idea is to like…search your mind for the absolute limit. Like.. would you drive to school naked?"  
Alfred laughed. "Uhm… uh, would I have to get out of the car?"  
"Of course."  
"In the spring or winter?"  
"Doesn't matter…spring.", Arthur suggested.

"In front of the school or in back of the school?"  
"Either one."  
"…Yes."  
"I'd do that.", Ivan announced. "..I'll do anything sexual. I don't need a million dollars to do it either."  
"…You're lying.", Arthur furrowed his brows.  
"I already have…I've done just about everything there is except a few things that are illegal. I'm a nymphomaniac."  
Arthur rolled his eyes. "Lie."  
"Are your parents aware of this?"  
"The only person I told was my shrink."  
"And what'd he do when you told him?", Alfred wondered.  
"He nailed me."  
"…Very nice."

"I don't think that from a legal standpoint what he did can be constructed as rape since I paid him.", Ivan said.  
"He's an adult."  
"Yea… he's married too."  
Arthur scrunched his face in disgust. "Do you have any idea how completely gross that is?"  
"Well, the first few times…"  
"First few times? You mean he did it more than once?"  
"Sure."  
"Are you crazy?"  
"Obviously he's crazy if he's screwing his shrink."

"Have you ever done it?", Ivan asked Arthur.  
"I don't even have a psychiatrist.", Arthur's face heated up.  
"Have you ever done it with a normal person?"  
"Now, didn't we already cover this?"  
"Ye never answered th' question.", Alasdair chimed in.  
"Look, I'm not gonna discuss my private life with total strangers."

"It's kind of a double-edged sword, isn't it?", Ivan said.  
"A what?"  
"Well, if you say you haven't… you're a prude. If you say you have, you're a slut. It's a trap. You want to but you can't escape."  
"Wrong…"  
"Or, are you a tease?"  
Arthur snorted.  
"I see how it is…"

"Okay, let me ask you a few questions.", Arthur was ready for attack.  
"I've already told you everything.  
"No. Doesn't it bother you to sleep around without being in love. I mean don't you want any respect?"  
"I don't screw to get respect. That's the difference between you and me."  
"Not the only difference, I hope."

"Face it, ye're a tease."  
"I'm not a tease."  
"Sure ye are. Ye said it yerself. Sex is a weapon. Ye use it ta get respect.", Alasdair remarked.  
"No, I never said that. He twisted my words around."

"Oh, then what do you use it for?"  
"I don't use it. That's final."  
"Oh, are you medically frigid or is it psychological?"  
"I didn't mean it that way! You guys are putting words into my mouth!"  
"Well if ye'd just answer th' question…"  
"Why don't you just answer the question?", Matthew demanded.  
"Be honest…", Alfred joined in.  
"Nah big deal…"  
"Yea, answer it."  
"Answer the question, Arthur."  
"Talk ta us."  
"Come on, answer the question."  
"It's easy, it's only one question."

"No! I never did it!", Arthur finally shouted.

Silence filled the hall, only broken when Ivan confessed. "…I never did it either. I'm not a nymphomaniac…I'm a compulsive liar."  
"You are such a bitch! You did that on purpose just to fuck me over!", Arthur hissed.  
"I would do it though…if you love someone it's okay."

"I can't believe you, you're so weird. You don't say anything all day and when you open your mouth… you unload all these tremendous lies all over me.", Arthur complained.  
"You're just pissed off, because he got you to admit something you didn't want to admit to.", Alfred assumed.  
"Okay, fine, but that doesn't make it any less bizarre."  
"What's bizarre? I mean we're all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it, that's all."  
"…How are you bizarre?"  
"He can't think for himself.", Ivan answered instead.

"He's right… Do you guys know what, uh, what I did to get in here? I taped Sadiq Adnan's buns together."  
Arthur laughed.  
"That was you?", Matthew raised his eyebrows.  
"Yea, you know him?"  
"Yeah."  
"Then you know how hairy he is, right? Well, when he pulled the tape off, most of his hair came off… and some… skin too."  
"Oh my god!", Arthur crooned.

"And the bizarre thing is, is that I did it for my old man…I tortured this poor kid, because I wanted him to think that I was cool. He's always going off about, you know, when he was in school…all the wild things he used to do… and I got the feeling that he was disappointed that I never cut loose on anyone, right.. so I'm… I'm sitting in the locker room and I'm taping up my knee. And Sadiq's undressing a couple lockers down from me…Yeah, he's kinda weak…and I started thinking about my father, and his attitude about weakness. And the next thing I knew, I…uh..I jumped on top of him and started wailing on him… and my friends, they just laughed and cheered me on. And afterwards when I was sitting in Wang's office, all I could think about was Sadiq's father. And Sadiq having to go home and… and explain what happened to him… and the humiliation… fucking humiliation he must have felt…it must have been unreal…I mean…", by now Alfred had started to cry. "I mean how do you apologize for something like that? There's no way… it's all because of me and my old man. Oh god, I fucking hate him. He's like this… he's like this mindless machine I can't even relate to anymore…'Alfred, you've got to be number one! I won't tolerate any losers in this family. Your intensity is for shit! Win. Win! WIN!' …You son of a bitch! You know, sometimes, I wish my knee would give away…and I wouldn't be able to wrestle anymore. And he could forget all about me."

"…A think yer auld man and me auld man should get together and go bowling.", Alasdair offered.  
Alfred laughed briefly, a bit cheered up by the imagination.

"It's like me, you know, with my grades… like, when I, when I step outside myself kinda, and whenI… look at myself, you know? And I see me and I don't like what I see. I really don't."  
"What's wrong with you? And why don't you like yourself?", Arthur asked curiously.

"Because I'm stupid. 'cause I'm failing shop. See, we had this assignment to make this ceramic elephant and um… we had eight weeks to do it and we're supposed to… it's like a lamp and when you pull the trunk the light was supposed to go on. My light didn't go on… got an F on it. Never got F in my life…When I signed up, you know, for the course, I mean…I thought I was playing it real smart, you know. 'cause I thought I'll take shop, it'll be such an easy way to maintain my grade point average."

"Why'd ye think it'd be easy?"  
"Have you seen some of the dopes that take shop?"  
"A take shop… ye must be a fockin' eejit."  
"I'm a 'fockin' eejit' because I can't make a lamp?"  
"Nah, yer a genius because ye cannah make a lamp."  
"What do you know about Trigonometry?"  
"A could care less about it…"  
"Alasdair, did you know without Trigonometry there'd be no engineering?"  
"Without lamps, there'd be nah light."

"Okay, so neither one of you is any better than the other one.", Arthur summed up.  
"I can write with my toes. I can also eat, brush my teeth…", Ivan said happily.  
"…with your feet?"  
"…play Heart & Soul on the piano.", he ended.

"I can make spaghetti.", Matthew announced with a smile.  
"What can you do?", Arthur looked at Alfred.  
"I can.. uh.. tape all your buns together."

"A wanna see what Arthur can do."  
"I can't do anything.."  
"Now, everybody can do something."  
"There's one thing I can do… no, forget it, it's way too embarrassing."  
"Ye ever seen Wild Kingdom? A mean tha' guy's been doin' tha' show fer thirty years."  
"Okay, but you have to sweat to god, you won't laugh. I can't believe I'm actually doing this…"

Arthur fumbled with his hands, then out came a pretty paper butterfly that was even flying.  
Everyone clapped…except for Alasdair.  
"All right, great. Where'd you learn to do that?"  
"Camp, seventh grade."

"Tha' was great, Arthur… me image o' ye is totally blown."  
"You're a shit! Don't do that to her. You swore to god you wouldn't laugh!"  
"Am A laughin'?", Alasdair asked irritated.  
"You fucking prick!", Alfred shouted.

"What do ye care what A think anyway? A din even count, right? A could disappear forever and it wouldn't make any difference…A may as well not even exist at this school, remember? And ye…", he turned to Arthur. "din like me anyway."  
"You know, I have just as many feelings as you do and it hurts just as much when somebody steps all over them!", Arthur whined.

"God, ye're so pathetic.", Alasdair glared. "Din ye ever…ever! Compare yersel' ta me, okay? Ye got everything and A got shite! Fockin' Rapunzel, right? School would probably fockin' shut down if ye dinnae show up! 'Queenie isna here!' … nice ring by th' way."  
"Shut up!"  
"are those real diamonds, Arthur?"  
"Shut up!"  
"A bet they are, did ye work fer th' money fer those earrings?"  
"Shut …your mouth!"  
"Or did yer daddy buy those?"  
"Shut up!", Arthur angrily cried.  
"A bet he bought those fer ye… a bet those are a Christmas gift. Right? Ye ken what A got fer Christmas this year? It was a banner fockin' year at the auld Kirkland family! A got a carton o' cigarettes. Th' auld man grabbed me and said 'Hey, smoke up, Alli!' Okay, so go home 'n cry to yer daddy, din cry here, okay?"

"My god… are we gonna be like our parents?", Alfred muttered.  
"Not me…ever…", Arthur still sobbed.  
"It's unavoidable. It just happens", Ivan told.  
"What happens?"  
"When you grow up… your heart dies."  
"Who cares?", Alasdair glared.  
Ivan was on the verge of tears again. "…I care."

"Um, I was just thinking, I mean… I know it's kind of a weird time, but I was wondering… what is gonna happen to us on Monday? When we're all together again? I mean I consider your guys my friends…I'm not wrong, am I?", Matthew said.  
"No.", Alfred replied.  
"So… on Monday, what happens?"  
"Are we still friends, you mean? If we're friends now, that is?", Arthur asked.  
"Yeah.."  
"You want the truth?"  
"Yeah, I want the truth."  
"I don't think so…"

"Well, do you mean all of us or just Alasdair?", Ivan asked.  
"With all of you…"  
"That's a real nice attitude, Arthur.", Alfred hummed.  
"Oh, be honest Andy. If Matthew came walking up to you in the hall on Monday, what would you do? I mean picture this, you're there with all the sports. I know exactly what you'd do. You say hi to him and when he left you'd cut him all up so your friends wouldn't think you really liked him."  
"No way!"

"Kay, what if I came up to you?", Ivan wanted to know.  
"Same exact thing."

"Ye are a son of a bitch!"  
"Why? 'cause I'm telling the truth? That makes me a son of a bitch?", Arthur hissed back at Alasdair.  
"No! Because ye ken how shitty that is to do to someone! And ye don't got the balls ta stand up to yer friends and tell 'em that ye're gonna like who ye wanna like."

"Okay, what about you, you hypocrite! Why don't you take Ivan to one of your heavy metal vomit parties? Or take Matthew out to the parking lot at lunch to get hgh? What about Alfred for that matter? What about me? What would your friends say if we were walking down the hall together. They'd laugh their asses off and you'd probably tell them you were doing it with me so they'd forgive you for being seen with me."  
"Din ye ever talk about me friends! Ye din ken any o' me friends, ye din look at any o' me friends and ye certainly wouldna condescend ta speak to any o' me friends, so ye juist stick ta the things ye ken, shopping, yer father's BMW, and yer poor rich drunk mother in the Caribbean!", Alasdair shouted back.  
"Shut up!"  
"And as far as bein' concerned about whot's gonna happen when ye and A walk down the hallways at school, ye can forget it! 'cause it's never gonna happen! Juist bury yer head in th' sand and wait fer yer fockin' prom!"  
"I hate you!"  
"Yeah? Good!"

Matthew breaks the silence that was created after this fight.  
"…Then I assume Ivan and I are better people than you guys, huh? Us.. weirdos.", he looked at Ivan. "Do you…would you do that to me?"  
"I don't have any friends…"  
"Well if you did?"  
"No…I don't think the kind of friends I'd have would mind."

"I just wanna tell, each of you, that I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't and I will not. 'cause I think that's real shitty."

"Your friends wouldn't mind because they look up to us.", Arthur murmured, tiredly.  
"…You're so conceited, Arthur. You're so conceited…You're so, like, full of yourself. Why are you like that?"  
"I'm not saying that to be conceited…I hate it. I hate having to go along with everything my friends say."  
"Well then why do you do it?"  
"I don't know… I don't… you don't understand.. you're not friends with the same kind of people that Alfred and I are friends with. You know, you just don't understand the pressure that they can put on you."  
"I don't understand what?... You think I don't understand pressure, Arthur? Well fuck you! Fuck you!"

Matthew was really upset now and crying, struggling. After he had calmed down enough to speak, he said. "Know why I'm here today? Do you? I'm here because Mr. Beilschmidt found a gun in the locker…"  
"Why'd you have a gun in your locker?"  
"I tried… You pull the fucking trunk on it and the light's supposed to go on…and it didn't go on….I mean…I…"  
"What's the gun for, Matthew?"  
"…Just forget it."  
"You brought it up, man!"  
"…Can't have an F. Can't have it… and I know my parents can't have it. Even if I aced the rest of the semester I'm still only a B… and everything's ruined for me."  
"…Oh Matthew.", Arthur sighed deeply.

"So I considered my options, you know?"  
"No! Killing yourself is not an option!"  
"Well I didn't do it, did I? No, I don't think so…"  
"It was a hand gun?", Ivan asked.  
"No, it was a flare gun... went off in my locker."  
"Really?", Alfred laughed weakly.  
"It's not funny…"

"Yes it is…fucking elephant was destroyed!"  
They all started to laugh, including Matthew.

"You wanna know what I did to get in here?", Ivan asks sheepishly. "Nothing… I didn't have anything better to do!"  
This confession was welcomed by more laughing.

Eventually, the time of detention came close to an end and Alasdair had to crawl back through the heating duct into the closet.  
The other four remained in the library.  
"Matt?"  
"Mh?"  
"Are you going to write your essay?", Arthur raised his eyebrows.  
"Yea, why?"  
"Well, it's kind of… waste for all of us to write our paper, don't you think?"  
"Oh, but that's what Wang wants us to do…"  
"True, but I think we'd all kinda say the same thing."  
"You just don't want to write your paper, right?", Matthew huffed.  
"True, but you're the smartest, right?"  
"Oh, well…"

"We trust you."  
Matthew looked up and at the other two who nodded in approval.  
"Yeah."  
"All right, I'll do it…", Matthew said.

Finally it's the end of the day and the five walk down the hall, where they are met by Francis who joins them. Matthew nods at him.  
"See you Matt."  
"Hey Papa."  
"See ye next Saturday."  
"You bet.", Francis smirks.

Matthew goes home with his dad in their car. Alfred is also taken home by his dad, so is Ivan.  
Arthur and Alasdair still stood together. Arthur's mother arrives with her car, but the blond still hesitated.  
Then he took off the diamond ring on his finger and gave it to Alasdair. They hugged tightly before Arthur had to go.

Alasdair walked off, putting the ring onto his finger.

Mr. Wang found the essay that Matthew wrote.  
It read:

Dear Mr. Wang, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was that we did wrong, what we did was wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write this essay telling you who we think we are, what do you care? You see us as you want to see us… in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions.  
But what we found out is that each one of us is  
a brain,  
an athlete,  
a basket case,  
a princess  
and a criminal.  
Does that answer your question?  
Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.

_

Roles:

Detention teacher...Yao Wang  
Janitor, Father of brain...Francis Bonnefoy  
Athlete...Alfred F. Jones  
Brain...Matthew Williams  
Criminal...Alasdair Kirkland  
Princess...Arthur Kirkland  
Basket Case...Ivan Braginsky


	5. Frozen - Hetalia Edition

Good morning, good afternoon or whatever time you will read this.  
My native language is not English, so please excuse my poor grammar or use of words.

Pairing: Alasdair (Scotland) x Arthur (England)

Rating: T

Genre: Adventure

Disclaimer:  
England and Scotland belong to Europe. Hetalia belongs to Himaruya.

_

This is my Hetalia adaption of 'Frozen' by Disney. It is not so much by the line as 'Breakfast Club' was and more freely applied to fit also Hetalia. 'Albion' is an old name for the Realm of Great Britain as far as I know.

_

It was very early in the morning in the Kingdom of Albion. The large castle in the heart of the kingdom was still sleeping.  
Well, not all of them. The youngest prince Arthur was already up and roaming the halls, soon finding his older brother Alasdair. The redheaded child was still sleeping in his large bed. That however didn't stop the younger prince from waking him up.  
"Hey…wake up. Play with me!", the young boy chirped, shaking his brother awake.  
"Mmh… go back to sleep. The sun's sleeping too."  
"Get up!"  
"Go to bed…"  
"Unf!", Arthur tackled his brother and pouted. "…You promised."  
"Ugh… tha' face.", the redhead yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Don't pout at me, alright, alright…"  
"Yahoo!"  
"Shh… Juist because we're playing we don't wanna wake up the rest of them, Aye?"

Tiptoeing, the two boys went down into the ballroom.  
"Do it, do it!", the blond boy hopped up and down.  
"Alright… here comes.", he hummed and moved his fingers, turning the large room into a grassy lane with hills and pretty flowers and even a tree.  
Arthur squealed and roamed them. There was even an artificial sun at the ceiling of the room, warming up the fresh grass. Even Alasdair had to admit that he liked the tickling feeling on his bare feet.

"Och, do you see the clouds?"  
"They look like cotton candy~", Arthur dreamily said.  
Alasdair smiled and pulled one of them down. "What flavour, Mister?"  
"Mmmh…Mint!"  
"Okay, this is the Flying Mint Rabbit!", Alasdair chuckled and made the cloud light green with a bunny shape.  
His little brother squealed in happiness and hugged the cloud.

"Okay, here comes the next season. Watch out!"  
Then the area changed from the green field to a beach with a bit of a shore washing up and down like they had their own piece from the Seychelles or Maledives. Palm trees decorated the place instead of old rusty suits of armour.  
Arthur was still happy and dashed around in the soft sand.  
"Be careful, don't go too far into the water!", Alasdair warned, knowing that his brother didn't know how to swim.  
"Of course not. I'm not an idiot.", after a while, Arthur sat in the sand playing with the soft, moist material that formed so easily in his hands. "I just wished Mommy and Daddy would play with us, too…"  
"Maybe next time…", Alasdair sat with him and played along with the sand. His blond brother giggled and tossed some sand at him. "Hey, stop that!"  
"Make me!", the blond got up and dashed away again.  
The older brother had slight problems to follow as a speck of sand had gotten into his eye. He somewhat managed to follow Arthur, but he couldn't see.

Arthur had not thought about that. Neither did he think when he walked into the water. He still thought that they were safely inside the castle, so he didn't bother as he walked in deeper and deeper, feeling the waves pull on his legs…  
Eventually, he stepped onto sand that gave away!  
"Alas-!"

"Arthur!", it was painful how he wiped the sand from his eyes and staggered to where the voice had come from. He felt the salty water on his toes and gasped. Well, he didn't need to see anything to set back the room, making it back into the old musky hall.  
The sand also somehow disappeared out of his eyes and he dashed towards the liveless body of his younger brother. "Arthur…? Arthur!"

His cries had woken the parents who now came through the door and dashed towards their children. The father pulled away the desperate redhead while the mother still shook her baby boy.  
"We were only playing!", Alasdair defended himself. "I didn't want that!"

Not long after, two horses left the castle in the direction of north, to the ancient stone where the old kings had been coroneted long ago. The king placed the body of his child onto the stone and muttered an old line. "…Please… help my son.", he added.  
The Queen stood back and tried to calm down the upset redhead… who in the meantime had obviously made a downcast for the area. Because wherever they went was rainy weather. The rain was cold, but they had other worries. The Queen kept muttering that Alasdair should calm down as she watched what happened to her other son.

Around the coronation stone small lights gathered. At first you might have thought they were ordinary fireflies, but then voices could be heard coming from those tiny bumbling lights. They were tiny people…mostly female apparently – with small wings of dragonflies on their back and shining in different colours.  
They started to squeal and dance around the young blond prince. Eventually, they also replaced the memories Arthur had with Alasdair… with un-magical memories. No one must know that Alasdair had such powers.

Eventually, the royal family got back home… and carried on with their life as if nothing had happened – safe for a small difference.  
Alasdair's room got locked and only the King had the key to it.  
The children were no longer allowed to play with each other. At first, Arthur didn't understand why that was and kept visiting Alasdair's room each day. Always knocking and asking to come and play.

In the meantime, Alasdair's magic was hardly in control. Whenever he got upset – and that often happened – he would set free the elements inside him.  
"Conceal it, son…Cover it with these leather gloves."  
"Mh…", the redhead frowned at them. They felt weird on his hands. And didn't look too good either.  
"Try to find your inner calm. Maybe when you have learnt to control your magic, you can come out of this room and eat dinner with us again… like normal."  
"…Mhm… Conceal it. Don't feel it.", Alasdair repeated. He hated having to live in here like in a closet. He had a window, but how much was that compared to be able to be outside?  
The King smiled.

The years passed by and the princes grew up, so close to each other yet the door between them was like a wound that would never heal and separate them forever.  
Arthur experienced his adolescence also in a kind of vacuum. Isolated. The parents would hardly allow more than the servants in the castle.  
The boys grew up sad, being reduced to the feeling of being an only child.  
After a while, Arthur also gave up asking his big brother to come out and play.

Then, one day, the parents had to make a visit to another Kingdom abroad. It was already stormy outside.  
"Do you really have to go?"  
"Yes. It is important for the Kingdom. Strong relations will help in a case of war."  
The Queen however smiled. "Maybe we will find a cute princess for you."  
"…And for my brother?", Arthur made a sad face.  
"…Yes. For him too."

It was a lie.  
Up to that day, Alasdair had not perfected his magic. He was often upset, there was a storm of feelings inside his heart.  
Even when he was simply looking out of the window. Suddenly the wooden frame would spruce and also soon wither away, crumble under his leather gloves like sand.  
After a while he even refused to let his parents touch any part of him, even for comfort.

"We have to leave. …And don't dare to go inside Alasdair's room."  
"Why? Why have you kept him locked away?"  
The king sighed and moved a hand through Arthur's wheat coloured hair in which a red strand was. "One day you shall know."

The King and Queen and some of their servants boarded the ship and took sail west-south.  
Not many days later, pieces of their ship were washed ashore in Albion. No sign of any survivor…

The funeral was a big one. The people had loved their rulers.  
Arthur was also at the funeral, wearing all black clothes. Now that he was a grown-up he looked quite handsome. Especially with the red strand of hair.  
Still, he had that boyish look on him. And even on a sad day like this, some of the girls from the capital gave Arthur shy looks. If the prince would not have been in sorrow he might have blushed.

It had been a long time since he had seen his big brother last. He had almost forgotten what he looked like. Arthur walked down the lonely hallway that stood in a dim light. He knocked on the beautifully painted door.  
"…Are you really in there?", the blond asked. "…It's only us now. Please open that door and let me in."  
He leaned with his back against the door and flopped down slowly into a sitting position. "…Play with me."

On the other side of the door was an equal gloomy atmosphere. The whole room was covered in purple haze and in the middle of it sat a man with a red beard and a broken look on his face.

The day is darkest before the dawn. So even the sorrow in Albion had to fade away.  
Arthur stormed out of his room "It's coronation day!", it meant that his brother would become the new king. And since he was not king yet he had to obey the guidelines for a coronation… which meant an official ceremony and a party at the evening! The door and gates of Albion would be opened. It was like the old halls and hallways took a deep breath of spring after a long and dark winter.  
"Wow, I didn't know we had such lovely saucers.", Arthur said as he took a glance of the cutlery and plates and bowls and whatnots the servants packed out. "I had wondered what we have a ballroom for anyway."  
He smiled at the people working up the castle and asked if he could help them but they just smiled and said 'no'. But they were happy.

Funny enough, the guy who this party was thrown for was all but happy.  
Servants had managed to pry open the door that had separated Alasdair from the rest of the world for such a long time. They had not only given him adequate clothes for the ceremony, but also a new haircut and a slight trim of the beard so he wouldn't look like a homeless.  
The servants found that very important because Alasdair was going to be the label for the Kingdom and oh so many aristocratic people coming for the ceremony and party…  
The redhead was nervous as hell. His hands were slightly shaking as he told himself over and over to take a deep breath and calm himself. He had set items similar to the coronation items – sceptre and imperial orb – before him so he could try it out. He had to take off the gloves and touch the coronation items with bare hands.  
"Why me? Why can't they coronate Arthur?", he murmured. "He's the more cheerful one anyway."

Well… worst thing that could happen was that he'd turn the sceptre into a sugar cane and the orb into… an apple.

Meanwhile, Arthur had danced or strolled his way down to the capital nearby and had met up with a prince from a nearby Kingdom. It had been more of an accident.  
"Aaahh… You git!", Arthur complained as he pulled the smelly bucket from his head. Not much more and he would have fallen into the water of the harbour.  
"Oh, I'm sorry…", said a voice with a very…French accent.  
Arthur looked up and saw a …woman with a beard!  
No, wait. It was a young man with long blond hair and a bit of stubble on the chin which could be classified as a beard. Well, the bloke looked good.

"Are you okay? Your ears are red.", the Frenchman helped Arthur up.  
"My -? No way…I'm, I'm…", Arthur babbled and wiped through his face. "…I'm Arthur."  
"Francis. Nice to meet you. …I came from the Kingdom in the South. France. ..Uhm… Have you seen the Princess here?"  
"Princess? There is no Princess. Albion has two Princes… oh! You thought … No, we are both guys. It's just that the plural of Prince is Princes. Sounds like the female Princess, but it's completely different."  
"Oh? Tant Pis (Too bad)."  
"B-but maybe you want to join the coronation party? My brother will be King from today on."  
"Brother?", the blond raised his eyebrows.  
"Yes, he's… I am Prince Arthur.", Arthur blushed again.  
"I would love to come!", Francis smiled brightly.

The mighty cathedral of Albion was rising like Olympus over the capital. The visitors seemed like tiny figurines inside the building. They all looked forward to where the bishop was coronating the new King.  
At first there had to be many litanies. Alasdair found it almost boring. What a torture. He grew rather impatient, hated to be in the centre of attention. He was kneeling before the priest and got the crown placed on his head. Then the sceptre and imperial orb into his hands.  
At first nothing happened. Alasdair's focus was more on the orb and the sceptre then at the people before him as he turned around to show them that he had the insignia of Albion.  
Suddenly, they started to freeze over and Alasdair quickly placed both items back onto the cushion that the bishop was holding.  
Now he was King. The ceremony had gone down smoothely. A stone fell from the redhead's heart.

At the evening, the guests had gathered in the large ballroom and some minor rooms nearby. There were also large balconies – in case some of the guests wanted some…privacy.  
Alasdair stepped out to see the people dance and enjoy themselves. It looked almost like Christmas. Everything sparkled and shone and dazzled. The women wore the prettiest dresses, the men the finest garments! And in the background the tastiest meals on platters on a buffet. There was music in the air…  
"Do you know that smell?", a voice beside him asked.  
He took in the scent and smiled.  
"Chocolate~", Alasdair and Arthur said, smiling. It was the first time in forever that they saw each other.

"Hey."  
"H-hey me?", Arthur looked flustered.  
"Mmhm."  
Arthur had almost not recognised his brother with the red beard and tall body.  
"You look wonderful."  
"Thanks."  
"How is it to be King?"  
"…Not much different than before.", Alasdair's eyes wandered towards his brother. He had also changed, but he still could see the cute and bubbly baby inside.

They would have gotten lost in their chat if not a fat lady would have come forward and asked for a dance.  
"I am the Lady of Gloucestershire. We are the most important trading partners for your Country. So it's my honour to have the first dance with the King!"  
"Och…only I don't dance. But my brother does.", Alasdair smiled and pointed towards Arthur – who got snatched by the lady and taken off for a nice dance.  
Not only was the lady pretty good 'filled', she was also half the size of Arthur. The prince however did his very best to not distress his dancing partner. He would get back on Alasdair for that still!

"Have you survived?", Alasdair asked with a grin.  
"Why yes… but you should have had that dance. I swear to god…"  
Alasdair laughed.  
"…I wish it could be like this forever."  
"Whot? I didn't think you enjoyed your dance with Lady Whatwashername so much~"  
"No… I mean you… and me. This here.", Arthur gestured.  
"No…I think not."  
It was like a block of ice had reappeared between them.

Arthur was sad because he got blocked away again. Alasdair kept doing that. Just why!? Had he done something unforgivable in the past? As not to start to cry, he quickly left for one of the balconies that were still empty.

"Such sad eyes? Tsk, it's a wonderful party tonight. No one should be sad.", a melodic voice advised Arthur. It was Prince Francis.  
"Shut u… Oh it's you."  
"Such filthy words again. You're a prince, Arthur.", the taller blonde grinned.  
"Where have you been…?", Arthur shook his head. He was rather confused. He liked that prince. "Do you know how difficult it is with siblings?"  
"Mmh... tell me about it. At home I have about 20 half siblings…I am the oldest, but I get…treated more like a princess.", he blushed a little and ran a hand through his silky French hair.  
"Haha, I could see that!"

"I thought I could visit here and find a solution for my problem…", the blue eyed blond said and huffed.  
"What are your siblings like? Are they also brothers?"  
"Oui. Uh…all of them are brothers. But also all of them are assholes.", he rolled his eyes but smiled.  
"Maybe I could invite you here…to stay longer than just the party."  
"Sure, why not?", Francis' initial plan had been to get married into some foreign country and as he had heard the news about Albion's Monarchs had died, he had gotten the idea of…getting there and figuring a way out.

Arthur grabbed Francis' hand and then looked for Alasdair.  
"Ah, there he is! Alas…ugh, I mean… Your majesty.", Arthur bowed. "It's me again. I wanna tell you something."  
"Mmh?", Alasdair frowned.  
"Francis wants to stay for a bit longer, is that okay? He is a prince from France."  
"Uh…I'm.. confused."  
"He is being bullied by his brothers and wants to figure a way to claim his own Kingdom. So maybe he can learn from you and-"  
"No…"

"What?"  
"My answer is no. No one is staying here longer."  
"But but but…!"  
"No, Arthur… the party is over, close the gates.", Alasdair walked away.  
"B-but Alasdair! Francis doesn't have to learn how to shut out people from their life!", Arthur tried to grab Alasdair's hand but instead got the glove.  
"Give me that glove!", Alasdair panicked a little.  
Arthur flinched away with the glove. "Please Alasdair! I can't live like this anymore!"  
"…", Alasdair looked at his younger brother. It almost broke his heart. "Then leave."

"What? ….What have I ever done to you? What are you so afraid of? Why do you shut the world out?"  
"ENOUGH!", Alasdair growled and turned around, casting fire while doing so.

The people in the ballroom screamed and left to the other side of the room. Other people darted forward and tried to put out the fire by putting ice from the wine coolers or water from the re-heaters from the buffet on the flames.  
"Sorcery!", someone shouted.  
Eventually, the flames were killed.

But it wasn't over yet. Outside the people in the castle's yard didn't know about what had happened. Alasdair was confused and scared. He staggered around, by chance turned a fountain into an ice sculpture and then also shot a fireblast at the main door of the castle where the fat lady from before shouted "Wizard! Catch him!"  
Other's also started to scream 'monster' and other nasty things, while Arthur still tried to get to his brother and calm him down.  
Alasdair however was released and ran off. He ran over the water by turning it into ice through the shoes. Now even garments didn't help anymore. His whole body was producing magic.  
He ran, ran away through the dark night.

Arthur and Francis who had seen how Alasdair had ran away came back into the castle yard. The river of the capital had frozen over and now it started to snow. It was the middle of summer!  
"Did you know he could do that?"  
"No."  
"Are you a wizard too?", the lady of Gloucestershire glared at Arthur.  
"N-no, I am… a normal person…", he answered irritated.  
"He's completely ordinary… in the best ways.", Francis added with a goofy grin.  
Arthur gave him a frown.  
"That demon king nearly killed me!"  
"I am sure that my brother meant nothing of this… it was all my fault…I pushed him too far", Arthur said to the Lady of Gloucestershire.

"Bring me my horse!", Arthur demanded.  
"Hey, I don't think it's a good idea.", Francis said.  
"It's alright.", he got up to his horse. "I will fix that… Listen people, I will go after King Alasdair. I leave Prince Francis in charge. I will be back as soon as I can."  
"…Okay, it's a good idea.", Francis blinked.

And with that, Arthur rode out of the yard and towards the direction where Alasdair went in full gallop.

Now Alasdair had brought a lot of distance between the capital and him. He was in the middle of the snowy mountains and freezing a bit. A shelter would be nice. But a small cabin? And he was not going to do it the normal way…chopping wood, waiting for the wild wolves to attack him.  
He was alone again, but this loneliness was different. Up here he was free… he was the ruler of the world.  
"Mh… I can still see the capital from here…", he muttered to himself as the hefty wind blew around his form. He looked at his hands and let the other glove fly away. He didn't need that thing up here.

He walked further up and created himself a palace made from crystal that fitted neatly into the mountain that was the largest of the range. Inside there, he had the shelter he wanted as well as a view to the rising sun in the east. There was no need to worry anymore. With his magic he could summon about everything that he needed.  
Eventually he also altered his own appearance. He got rid of the beard in his face, covered himself in neat garments and stepped onto his balcony, welcoming his new day.

Arthur in the meantime was stepping through the snow. His horse had tossed him off and actually his clothes were not exactly made for the winter. It had been summer as he had woken up.  
"Damn this bloody…", he couldn't help but curse.  
Then there was a cabin before him. The signs hanging over the door were snow-covered. A tap onto them helped making them readable. "Wandering Ivan's trading post and …sauna?"

He walked into there and actually it was just what he needed. Thicker garments and climbing tools and… another guy walked in.  
Not much about this guy could be seen but he was about Arthur's height and weight and had striking blue eyes. He muffled some words and got some of the items that were hung out in the shop.  
"That'll be forty.", the 'wandering' Ivan said.  
"What? No, it must be ten.", the stranger said, obviously upset.  
"Forty."  
"Ten!"  
"Forty, but you can also use the sauna. Right now my dear family is in there, but don't worry. They are nice people.", Ivan smiled and waved towards a door with a window in there. Through the window two women could be seen, waving back and smiling.

"But I don't want to use your sauna. I just want these and then go on. I still have Ice to deliver."  
"Oh yea, that's… heavy business.", Arthur said, looking out of the window. There were ice blocks on a sled that was led by a large reindeer…moose thing…  
The stranger shot him a glare.  
"By the way, have you been in the mountains lately? Did it seem magical over there?"  
"Magical? I'd say yes…", he pulled the snow mask from his face. "These mountains are always a bit snowy, but this is massive. Let's talk about it once I convinced this crook to give me what I need."

"What did you just call me?", Ivan smiled, then got up which revealed just how fricken tall he was! The Russian grabbed the stranger harsh and kicked him out of the cabin!

"Sorry Berwald… Didn't get your carrots…", the stranger muttered to the reindeer and patted its nose. The reindeer huffed in disappointment. "…But I got a free shelter for the night."

"Sorry for the violence. I just don't like being insulted.", Ivan still stayed calm… maybe it was just his nature.  
"It's fine.", the smile on Arthur had frozen up. "Now that we had this, I would like to buy several things…"

The reindeer named Berwald snored heavily. Then his nose reacted to the scent of what he loved most… carrots! Before he fully woke up, he had snapped his jaw at them but they always disappeared from his reach… wait, what?  
"Good morning.", Arthur smiled. Now he wore winter garments and didn't freeze as badly anymore.  
"What are you doing to my friend?", the stranger from before asked. He had not slept yet, that was obvious. But also he had not heard for when Arthur had come into the barn.  
"I bought the carrots that you couldn't afford… along with the other things.", Arthur grinned and gave Berwald the carrot. "What's your name?"  
"First… I demand to know yours."  
"…Arthur."  
"I'm Lukas. And this is Berwald."  
"Nice to meet you. Anyway, I need to get up that one mountain…I need to find my brother. You have a sled, so maybe… could you help me?"  
"Mmh…"

Berwald got another carrot and with this, democracy had decided that Lukas, Berwald and Arthur had to go look for the Snow King.  
The sled drove smoothly through the thick and heavy snow. Yet it was nice to see such untouched surface. Arthur remembered how he had loved to play in the snow with his brother when they had been little…  
Suddenly, a wild growl was heard behind them.  
"Wolves…", Lukas said and told Berwald to hurry.  
Some of the wolves were desperate enough to dash at the speed of a reindeer in full run! They managed to jump onto the wagon!

"Faster, Berwald!", Lukas shouted while he tried to knock the wolves down with a torch he had lit on the lamp in front of the wagon.  
Arthur helped with his sword. He had brought it with him… in case something like this might happen. It was certainly not for his brother!

The sled drove towards a large gap while the wolves were still chasing angrily.  
"Berwald, Jump!"  
"Don't tell him what to do!", Lukas growled, then shoved Arthur to sit on the reindeer and cut the cord that tied the reindeer onto the sled. "Berwald, Jump!"  
The reindeer with Arthur and the sled with Lukas flew through the air with high speed… it should be possible for them to reach the other side!

But as they hit the ground on the other side, the snow had disappeared and the three of them hit hard ground through which soon blossomed the first flowers.  
"Woa…"  
"What's happening now?", Lukas asked irritated. Then he looked to where his sled might be. The wreck of it burnt out on the ground far below…  
"It'll be fine. I'm going to give you another sled…with everything else you need", Arthur muttered. "Let's go!"

And so their journey continued until they found the massive crystal palace on top of the mountain. It was definitely Alasdair's work, Arthur found. Now, everything looked different with the snow gone. But the palace was certainly easier to spot.  
"The clouds look like cotton candy…"  
"Mmh… I remember…", Arthur dreamily said as he watched how one of them took the form of a bunny.

"There is a stairway leading up to the palace."  
"Okay, thank you… wait, who said that?", Arthur gasped and turned around to see a Mint Bunny with wings fluttering around among the flowery lane.  
"It's me! I'm the Flying Mint Bunny!", he flew around Arthur's head.  
"Oh my! Flying Mint Bunny!", the blond laughed and grabbed the bunny to hug it. "That's right…"

"Okay, I go while you hug a funny bunny…", Lukas said with a frown as he walked towards the stairway with Berwald. Unfortunately, the stairs were too slippery for the reindeer.

"You stay here… last time I introduced my brother to someone he set everything on fire.", Arthur explained to the Flying Mint Bunny and Lukas.  
"But…", the bunny made a face.  
"Give me a minute."  
"Okay. 1… 2… 3… 4…-"

Arthur walked into the palace after the main gates had opened. He was speechless to see something so pretty. The crystals created several rainbows inside the main hall. There was a fountain too.. and more stairs. And a giant chandelier at the ceiling!  
"A-alasdair?"  
"Arthur? … What are you doing here?"  
"…You look stunning!", Arthur was shocked to see his brother so different. "B-but in a good way! Really!"  
"Go away, Arthur."  
"Why?"  
"I only want to protect you, don't you see? It's better you're not here."  
"But I'm not afraid of you…you're my bloody brother! Please, let's go back together!"

"…56…57…58…59…60!"  
"What?"  
"Oh…Flying Mint Bunny?", Arthur gasped. Also Lukas entered a bit after the bunny.  
"Flying Mi…?", Alasdair narrowed his eyes.  
"Yes, you created me!"  
"…what?", the redhead was still irritated. Then he shook his head and walked back up to the upper floor of the castle. "Bye, Arthur."  
"What bye? You're going to come with me! Please! We can do this!"

"I know you meant well, but… go back home and enjoy your life with your prince there…"  
"No… not without you. .. you might not know…"  
"What do I not know?"  
"The Capital is in ….deep snow. You set an eternal winter over there. Up here Spring has returned… it's all but normal."  
Alasdair was shocked. "…I knew it. …Can't lift the curse."  
"Yes you must! You're the only one-"  
"No! I cannot! I don't know how! All I can do is create pain…"  
"But we can hang in there together. I can help you!"  
"NO!"

Alasdair had turned his back on Arthur and set some of his magic free…which hit Arthur in the heart. The blond gasped and clutch his chest. The elder brother gasped as well and looked at the blond in pain.  
Lukas dashed in. "Are you alright?"  
"I'm fine…", Arthur claimed and got back up and looked his brother firmly into the eyes.  
"Who do you think…you are you could stop this… stop _me_?! You better leave now. I mean it!"

And with this, Alasdair created a giant monster with a long neck and fins in the place of feet. But it was very mobile nonetheless and chased Arthur and Lukas out of the palace, followed by the Flying Mint Bunny who got smacked against a rock.  
If there had not been already a thick layer of autumn leaves, Lukas Arthur and Berwald might have broken their bones as they had been chased off of the mountain by the strange monster.

So it was autumn already.  
Where had the summer gone? Or maybe it was summer for as long as Arthur had been inside to debate with his brother? It had been a fallacy…  
"Are you alright? You seem pale.", Lukas said as he patted the leaves from his clothes.  
"Mh.. yea… Just a bit cold…", he coughed.  
"I know where to bring you."

The people in the capital of Albion grew restless.  
"Arthur might have left me in charge of things. But I cannot wait here.. it's been already two days and still no sign or whatsoever of success. The seasons pass quickly… it's still no good.", Francis said, debating with the other higher ups in the house. "I'm still young. I will take my men and go after that King Alasdair. You can watch over the capital while I'm gone."  
Lady of Gloucester nodded in approval. "Just take good care, will you?"  
"Of course.", the prince smiled and nested around with the sword on his belt.  
The small troop of about 4 soldiers and the prince dashed towards the majestic mountains in the north.

Meanwhile, Arthur was freezing and shivering heavily.  
"I told you it's serious.", Lukas glared at the prince. "Here we are…"

It was the same place so many years ago where the King and Queen had brought their young children and also made Arthur forget that his brother had special powers. It was a circle of mushrooms around a tree stump.  
"Sit on the stump. My friends should come soon."  
"Mph…", the prince furrowed his thick brows in dismay. He hated to wait.

But after a while, small fireflies came out and flew around the Scandinavian man as well as around Arthur.  
Soon, it became clear that there was no way to help Arthur, since he had been hit in the heart with an icy blast. Soon, his hair turned white.  
"Oh god, I'm looking old!", said Arthur to the mirror in his hand.  
"But there is a cure.", said the queen of the fairies. "You must receive the one true love…"  
"T-true love?", he blushed. "A kiss?"  
The fairies disappeared with giggles.

"Mmh… So, do you have anyone at home who loves you?"  
"…I .. am not sure…", Arthur was still flustered and he considered Francis to be his lover. It had been no other reason why he had left the capital in his hands. Just he wasn't ready to admit it yet. "W-well, let's go back then! Afterwards we can give it one more try. And hey, this way I can also give you another sled!"  
"Okay. Let's go."  
For now, Lukas had accepted the fact that they'd go together on this journey.

But Prince Francis wasn't what Arthur had expected.  
The Frenchman had not only broke into Alasdair's palace but also managed to abduct the King and put his hands into led gloves. There was no way that magic would seep through!  
For now it was Francis' dirty little secret.

Outside, the winter season had gained the most of control, casting a constant blizzard over the land. It made it hard for Arthur, Lukas, Berwald and the Flying Mint Bunny to come forward. The Themse had frozen over, so they could walk over the ice and between the ships that were stuck onto the harbour.  
Arthur had clutched the bunny into his garments near to his heart… so the bunny would be protected. But soon the Flying Mint Bunny complained about being cold.  
"Bear with me, we're almost there…", Arthur gasped.

The shield of ice that was the river broke up and Lukas and Berwald got separated from the other two. Arthur was worried, but then again he thought that if he'd continue stubbornly he'd be able to fix all of this sooner.  
In the castle at home he was brought into a warm room with a fireplace that was lit. A servant had brought him a cup of tea and scones. "Ah, thank you…"  
"I just heard that Prince Francis had come back. He had been looking for you.", the servant said, bowed and disappeared into the hallway.

"See? It will work out!", the bunny happily flew around Arthur's head. "Just a kiss and you are saved!"  
"I hope so…", his cheeks heated up.

"Ah, there you are. I have been worried sick!", Francis said after he had come in. "God, what is wrong with your hair?"  
"It's nothing… really."  
The Flying Mint Bunny remained in the background but emphasized that Arthur had to hurry to get the kiss.  
"You're frozen over.", Francis said further.  
"Mh.. mh… maybe… a kiss could help?", Arthur looked like a kicked puppy.  
"A kiss?"  
"…A kiss."  
"…You must be joking. As if I'd kiss you. You're just like my stupid brothers…think I'm a girl or something if it wasn't for that beard. You know what, go to hell! Join your brother!", he put out the fire in the fireplace and left Arthur just how he had found him.  
The Flying Mint Bunny dashed towards Francis and wanted to kick and bite him but the Frenchman simply ignored the Bunny… or didn't see it at all?

Arthur's condition was getting worse now rapidly. The Flying Mint Bunny hurriedly set the fire back on and dragged Arthur in front of it so he'd get the first impression of warmth.  
"It was… a fallacy…"  
"Don't worry Arthur, hang in there."  
"What for? …No one loves me."  
"Yes there are people who loves you!", the Mint Bunny insisted. "There is me, then there is Lukas and Berwald."  
"Pah… Lukas is just there because we had a deal. Stupid sled..", Arthur laid on his back. "Will I die now?"

"What about your brother?"  
"…Good question. Who will save him if not me?"  
"…I have heard the servants talk about him. He is in the basement."  
"What?", Arthur blinked and shot up. "He's here?"  
"Yes… according to what the servants say, he's been captured by Francis and brought to the cells in the basement."  
"That…", the prince furrowed his brows and tried to get his thoughts together. What did this mean? Did he err in Francis? Why had he captured his big brother? "I'm going to look after him!"

Francis had been coming down to King Alasdair who was still in chains in his cell.  
"Okay, so now you end this gayness out there or you're going to pay. You're a curse anyway. Because of you your little brother is dead!", Francis glared at the redhead.  
"What? Arthur is…? …You're lying!", the redhead was angry.  
"Why would I lie? If I was you I would kill myself. …But I am a nice person. I can do the trick for you."  
"Oh really? You must be a brave man for attacking a defenceless man in chains."  
"Well, I wouldn't want to take chances.", a smug grin decorated the prince's face as he drew his sword.

Just in the moment, someone tossed the door open and smacked it against the back of Francis' head, causing the Frenchman to fall over.  
"Alasdair!"  
Alasdair huffed and looked at his brother, startled. "Arthur… I guess, sometimes you're sure worth something."  
"Hehe.", Arthur grinned proudly as he saw what he had achieved. Then he stepped forward and tried to figure out what was with his brother's chains. "How do I open this?"

In the time where the two tried to figure out how to free Alasdair, Francis had come back to himself and stroke his sword onto the two brothers!  
The moment the blade hit Arthur, the prince turned into solid ice… an iceblock that was strong enough to make the steel blade of Francis shatter as well as cast a pressure wave onto the Frenchman, knocking him out for good.  
"Yay, you did it!", the Flying Mint Bunny came in and cheered. But then he noticed that Arthur had sacrificed himself for that stunt…

"My brother…", Alasdair was shocked. What Francis had said earlier was now truth…right before his eyes. That damn curse! Why had he those powers anyway? He managed to hug his brother tightly from that position now. "Arthur!"  
Tears rolled down his cheeks. He couldn't help it.

As one of the teardrops touched Arthur, the curse was lifted however and even the colourful hair was removed from Arthur's head. It was now a pure blonde. "Ah…!", Arthur gasped and flopped over, still in his brother's hug.  
Some of the servants hurried to the cells to see what had happened.  
The Blizzard outside had subsided.  
"It was brotherly love!", the Flying Mint Bunny cheered and flew around in the sticky room.  
Alasdair was still using Arthur to hide his tears. But now they were happy tears.

The seasons in Albion turned back to normal. Alasdair managed to control his powers now that he had more experience by using them and the kingdom was flourishing even more now with its new king.  
Francis was sent back to his 20 brothers.  
Lukas got a new and better sled as well as good provisions for his work. Berwald got a year supply of carrots.  
And everyone lived happily ever after.


	6. Pandoras Box

Good morning, good afternoon or whatever time you will read this.  
My native language is not English, so please excuse my poor grammar or use of words.

Pairing: -

Rating: T

Genre: Adventure

Disclaimer:  
Scotland belongs to Europe. Hetalia belongs to Himaruya.

_

This is my adaptation to Avatar – Pandora in Hetalia style. It is meant to depict the pioneer work on Pandora – way before Jake Sully came there. And the first part might sound a bit boring and scientific, but you can read it, even when you have not watched the film.

_

One of humanity's longest dreams had been to sail space and get to meet other life forms. Especially after the search for intelligent life on planet earth had been rather fruitless.  
Scientists had sent out satellites over decades, centuries, they had analysed comets and several planets, used telescopes to see far into space and always sent out signals of radio and television… never came an answer.  
We expected other life forms to be more civilised than we are, we expected them to be further with technologies, maybe even on the level of being able to control weather and the soil they stand on.  
Little did we know that we were close… but the intelligent life was just as civilised in their way of thinking but so not advanced in terms of technology.  
They would have never been able to receive our signals or even send them back.

Now, human scientists had come so far as to use antimatter so efficient to use it as a fuel in machines that would enable humans to travel through space at the speed of light. And this enabled us to reach even further into the universe. Several secure planets have even been used as stations in case such a voyage failed. At first, it was very difficult and only few people were enabled to make use of the discovery of the universe. Scientists that had to be very intelligent and had to have a hard training as well as an athletic body. This combination in itself was rare by nature…  
Alas, during the journeys of discovery, several planets of interest had been discovered among which one even made a vast contrast to the earth…

Mother nature had suffered serious wounds during the last 300 years. And in the year 2129, there was not one spot of green left. Food was produced artificial. The only reason it had vitamins and was nutricious was because of chemical substances within the food. Not a single human being knew what a real strawberry tasted like, let alone what fish was like. Only in electronic libraries you would find descriptions of the past, where all this had been possible.  
The cities had become deserts with rectangular pillars of naked concrete, the traffic had become so thick that the daylight broke through a thick layer of dust and exhaust. Even the rural life had been filled up with concrete and steel.  
The human race has killed their mother!

Hope was found within the Milky Way, in the system of Alpha Centauri… The planet was called Utopia, for the majority of its surface seemed to be green… forests! On closer analysis, it was subtropical forest. It was just like Middle or Southern America before the Europeans had invaded it. And on the geographical north and south poles were caps of ice, which led to the assumption that there had to be climate zones in between subtropical and frost climates.  
However, analysis of the 'air' inside the atmosphere showed that they were unbreathable for human beings. There was air, but also toxic substances.  
Then, the research instruments didn't survive for long either. Last photos from the planet showed strange animals which apparently 6 legs… much like terrestrial insects.

After this incident, scientists worked on inventing filters to make the air on Utopia breathable. In the meantime, satellites floated around Utopia, mapping the planet and also studying its inhabitants from a safe distance.  
These investigations lead to the realization that there was a humanoid species living on the planet. Overall, the planet was full of shocking realizations…which were not all that pleasant, so they renamed the planet into 'Pandora', after the Greek mythology in which 'Pandora's Box' contained all the evil in the world.

Pandora was obviously a dangerous planet. But humanity found itself challenged to a new adventure far from home. And as the first manned spaceships were able to make it up to there, the first Pandorian Pioneers were recruited to secure a base and thus a research laboratory on the new planet. Maybe there was a new chance with the green planet.

The question now was who to send to the new planet. Whoever person that would go there would have to sacrifice at least 10 years. And then settling on the new planet was probably all but easy with such a hostile environment.  
Aside from a large group of scientists and military officers from the best countries, the Nato had decided to send the immortal Nations. They wouldn't die as easily and even time wouldn't be a matter.  
Which nations?

Since a group of eight nations had always managed to stay strong during the last centuries, they were chosen before others. The former Axis Powers and Allied Forces had to team up to dare make that journey through the stars.  
America and Russia had experience with Spacecrafts.  
Germany, China and Japan made good mechanics. The United Kingdom was also important in matters of team spirit and pushing people to work harder.  
France and Italy were picked simply to investigate cultural aspects. It was simply better not to just smack an axe into that new forest but send also people who would come down to understand it. A somewhat female aspect, if you will…

And since Southern Italy was allowed to join the crew, other siblings also wanted to join. So did Canada, Scotland and Prussia. Spain joined as well, because he didn't like to be separated from Southern Italy.

You don't dream in cryo. These 10 years could just be passed while sending the people into a sleep like state. When you wake up after such a long time you feel kind of weak and have a funny taste in your mouth.  
Nutrition during that time happened through tubes.

The service personnel around the nations had been woken up earlier to care for the landing on the new planet. It was planned to have a station as a satellite around Pandora and send the Nations individually to the surface. The first one had to make an impact and secure an area. This wasn't a decision made by straws but the best warriors were picked and given armour and weapons.  
The first humans would probably die, so not even helpers would be send with the first 'package' as they soon called it.  
"Who wants to go?"  
"I go first of course! I was the first on the moon and now I'll be the first on Pandora! Hah! It'll be American ground!", the blond said cheerfully. His attitude had not changed that much in the past time.  
"Hah, you wish.", England furrowed his thick eyebrows. „Well, America is in. Who else wants to go?"  
"I'd go…", Germany said. Prussia panicked a bit. "Don't leave me, Bruder! I go too!"  
"Nein… You must stay here. We need tough people and…"  
"I am tough!"  
"…", Germany didn't want to tell his brother that he was probably strong physically but he had no back up. When Prussia died, he was gone for good. "I don't want to lose you, so stay."  
The Albino growled.  
"You can be on the second landing.", England interrupted. "Okay, two more… at least two more. No volunteers?"  
"A'll go.", Scotland said. "A hope A can still kick ass… A been waiting fer a thing like this."  
England gave his brother a smile.  
The last pick was Spain… since he was allowed to bring his large Axe.

The whole mission was planned to the last detail, even surprises were calculated. But no one was prepared for what they were presented on Pandora.  
The spaceship broke through a thick layer of clouds and landed in a clearing of the Jungle. Of course a few trees were 'killed' in the process, but other than that, no big damage was done.  
"Put on your Exopacks. Don't put them off, even when you have a bug in there."  
"I wonder if they have bugs on this planet… woah, look at this tree. They are so big…"  
"A have nah seen trees like these… since forever."  
"It reminds me of Venezuela.", America said.

The four Nations slowly stepped out of the machine and discovered the environment. At first, everything was silent. The animals had fled from the unfamiliar noise.  
"Okay, the objective is to prepare a landing field for those to come…", Germany said.  
"Means …Timber time! Oh, we should have brought Canada, he is a pro on chopping trees!", America said excitingly.  
"This is kind of awkward…", replied Germany and made a sad face. He missed the green back home and here they just came and destroyed nature again…  
"Don't worry, dude. There'll be enough even with our little camp!"

Soon, some tools were brought out... and even though Spain would have rather used his axe, the scientists had managed to talk him into saving his axe for eventual attackers.  
And those attackers came about an hour after they had landed on the new planet. At first came dog like creatures.  
Just like most of the things living here they had 6 legs. Four on the front and two hind legs. They moved rather quick.  
Soon, the four of them drew their weapons and smacked down the dogs that would dare to come too close. Since they were still good fighters, the small group of dogs were soon taken out.

"Yer in luck… fer havin' me on th' first group.", Alasdair said. "A'm a magician efter all."  
He moved his hands and created a hut as well as a large area in which the other spacecrafts could land. The whole thing was surrounded by a tough and high wall. The Scotsman considered altering things here and there, but now they had a good shelter from which out they could investigate the planet at ease.  
The other group landed and with the third spacecraft came the scientists. The hut, that was a large complex, got improved so that inside the people could even take off their Exopacks. It was like a base camp in the middle of an ocean.  
The scientists were more than happy to start their research on air, gravity and other things concerning the planet. The computers and laboratories were put up, then a large hall for machines was set up, then also large sleeping rooms.  
They still had provisions from earth, but they knew that sooner or later they'd have to depend on plants or fruits coming from the planet.

The first night on Pandora was kind of strange. Not many of the crew members could sleep at all. The scientists were working overtime. Those that really were into their job got so excited that someone had to send them to bed… still no use. Even when they got told that tomorrow was another day, they still wanted to go on.  
The day-and-night rhythm was a bit different on the planet. A day lasted longer than 24 hours… and the night was never really dark. The scientists soon explained that it was because of some nuclear radiation coming from the mother planet.

"Can't sleep?"  
"No…", Arthur was sitting on some larger piece of junk and stared at the starry sky. The large Gas planet Polyphemus could be seen like it was not so far away.  
Alasdair sat next to his brother and also looked at the sky. If it had not been for the Exopacks, he would have brought a drink out too. But here it was basically like they were on the bottom of a well.  
"A would have never believed ta make it to another planet."  
"Neither would I. …I like it here. When you hear, it's almost like those summer nights way back in the past."  
"…A miss the nature at home."

Suddenly, Alasdair saw something flickering from the corner of his eye. He looked over and could see a humanoid 'thing' drop from the wall and dash towards the main building. The humanoid thing was double the size of an average man and carried a bow with him… or her.  
The Scotsman cursed and alarmed his brother.  
"What shall we do?", the redhead hissed. He had brought a gun with him in case something might happen, but Arthur was without any sort of weapon.  
"Fire on it… and I get reinforcements!", Arthur said, also quite surprised by the sudden appearance.

Alasdair had second thoughts about firing at someone… even when that someone was armed. He didn't know what that person was up to. It was just unlikely for a single individual to attack a larger shelter… even when that individual had advantage in height and moved as smooth as a carnivore.  
In the end, he just decided to get ready to shoot and let that individual come up to him.

The individual stopped before the redhead and towered over him… which was rather unusual for the Scotsman. The two stared into each other's eyes, big yellow ones meeting with green ones. And from what Alasdair saw, the individual was really a humanoid being… with feelings… and a mind. It was unlikely that this being understood any of the languages the team had brought with them. Not English, French, German, Chinese, Russian, Japanese, Italian or any earthen language could help here.  
But there would be talking between them…

The two of them snapped out of it as Arthur darted out of the Base with Ludwig, Alfred and Ivan as his backup.  
"Go away from him!", Arthur shouted and aimed his gun.  
The being grabbed Alasdair and before the Scotsman could react, he felt a sharp blade against his neck. Damn… not even in his best times he had been this quick! He could feel the muscles of the native… and felt something like admiration for that being.  
"Stop threatening him.", Alasdair calmly said. "He is just as surprised as we are by him. …A guess this is the first contact between the natives and us. Din blow it, guys. …those who can, remember how we colonised the new world back on earth in the 16th century."

The four humans lowered their guns slowly. The blade on Alasdair's neck was also more relaxed. Alasdair found it strange to be the one to talk between the native and his own people and furrowed his brows.  
"Let's talk with him first… at least try to.", Alasdair insisted.  
Behind the physically stronger nations came France who was just about done fumbling with his Exopack. He hated how they ruined his hairdo, but he had been scared for Alasdair when England had darted into the 'living room' area and had told what had happened.  
"Is he hurting you, Alasdair?"  
"Nah… "  
"He took you hostage.", Francis frowned.  
"A ken. …Fran, yer guid with such stuff, won't ye come over and talk ta this gentleman?"  
"Qu-? …God, this is a dance on ice, Écosse."

Francis feared for his lover and long-time alliance partner. But he had also heard what the Scotsman had talked about. He could see that diplomacy was very important now. Just why had this guy had to come at night?  
That guy looked big and creepy.  
"A ken ye ken how ta dance.", Alasdair wanted to encourage Francis, who walked towards the native with open hands to display that he didn't come to harm him.

Now the Frenchman stood before the blue tall man and between them Scotland as a hostage. At first, Francis made a slow and big wave for a greeting and muttered some English words. He had considered using French… as to base the relation on French alone which would result in everyone having to learn French in order to get the people of Pandora to know. Then on the other hand it would be plain mean and just end in conflicts. … So English had to be the option.  
After all… beside all the conflicts that ever happened on earth between the Nations, English had always been their way to communicate with each other.

After having talked for a good while, which seemed to have barely an effect on the stranger, Francis rummaged in his pocket and pulled out some kind of necklace with a small stone on it. Alasdair recognised the gift he had given to Francis back on earth. It had been with a stone from the Highlands…

The stranger however accepted the gift and let Alasdair go. He walked back slowly and as the being noticed that no one attempted to attack, he ran back over the wall and back into the darkness of the night.

"Are ye nuts?! Tha' was me gift fer ye! Fer ye, na him!", Alasdair growled.  
"Calm down, it's for diplomacy! … and I also thought this was some kind of Magical charm with which you could track him."  
England joined into the debate. "Magical Charm?"  
"Oui, that thing came from your older brother."  
Arthur looked at the taller male.  
"Nah, A dinnae charm it… A couldna have ken'd he would juist throw it away! Goddammnit!", Alasdair cursed and walked back inside. The others followed slowly.

"How come you never quit smoking? We don't have the filters for that reason.", Arthur complained and coughed before he sat across the room. It was the living room area where some plants and pictures from earth as well as sofas were placed to create some impression of a big happy family living together.  
But really, this group was just tossed together at random.  
"It's juist a wee habit. …A wonder if they have somethin' lik' tobacco plants up here too."  
"Do you think the natives here are smoking?", Francis wondered and sat a bit closer to Alasdair as he was used to the stinky cigarettes.  
"You know… the natives of America have smoked too.", Alfred informed them.

Meanwhile, the Asians came in from the technical department. Yao reported roughly what they have been working on and Arthur explained briefly what had happened outside.  
Kiku however snuck behind the redhead and got a strand of hair from the Scotsman… as well as one that might have fallen from the native.  
"What do we call them anyway?", Arthur asked.  
"Who?"  
"The natives."  
"How about… Blue man group?", Alfred tried and gave a goofy grin.  
"They have probably also girls…", Francis said with a frown on his face.  
"A'm curious what they look like.", Alasdair chuckled.  
"Maybe like plums.", Ludwig wondered and pictured the native they had met that evening with a bra.

"The question would be… what is the name they are giving themselves?", Ivan said.  
"Hah.. yea right, the Spanish named the natives of America 'Indians', because they thought they were in India.", Arthur grunted.  
"Oy, they were the Portuguese… and at least we had the courage to cross the damn ocean.", said Antonio who had just come over upon the noise.

"Maybe you should go meet them.", Kiku said with a mysterious smile.  
"And how? Past these walls, everything is going to kill us immediately…so even when we make it this far…"  
"Leave that to us. …Wang-San?", he looked at China.  
Yao just nodded and followed the Japanese back to the lab.

The days passed by. Rainy days.  
Most of the time when it was not raining, some of the nations gathered in groups to discover whatever was near to the basecamp.  
They discovered many animals that kind of seemed close related to those living on earth, yet not quite… for example there were the monkeys with four arms and two legs called 'Prolemuris'. Or big horse like creatures, of course sporting four front legs and two behind. They lived off of nectar found in flowers. The humans decided to call them 'Direhorses'.  
The plants were so big like they must have been on earth during the time of the dinosaurs. There were huge trees, but also ferns and flowers of unknown beauty.  
The scientists claimed that it was due to a lot of oxygen in the 'air' that everything grew so big. Whenever it was possible, the group that was roaming around brought probes of their findings. With the plants it was easy… They didn't think that with breaking off parts of plants it would hurt anyone… With the animals, they were mostly just glad to find one that was already dead since they were all very huge. Often they would just have to be happy with recording the behaviour of the animals on camera.

It was almost a year after they had settled. The humans had gone over to run a greenhouse where the plants for food would grow. No meat, sadly. Germany soon grew tired of having some kind of veggie-Wurst. The promising new planet was still far from heaven.

"We have a surprise for you.", Japan said as he walked towards the tall redheaded Scotsman. The Japanese was wearing his lab coat and looked casual apart from this. He was carrying also a transparent screen with him that was pretty much like the notebooks from long ago. He could connect to any sort of computer with that.  
"Mh?"  
"Follow me."

Never would Alasdair have been prepared for what he got presented in the lab.  
It was a gigantic human being… with blue skin. It pretty much looked like a hybrid between the native humanoid beings of this planet and a human from the earth. And this one here sported thick black eyebrows.  
"Do you like it? This will be your avatar."  
"Whot… is an avatar?", the Scotsman furrowed his red eyebrows and tilted his head, looking at the creature that seemed to be sleeping in a big tube filled with liquid. Also the creature had a umbilical cord connected to a placenta which was attacked to the side of the tube.

"An avatar is a creature that you will be controlling, aru.", China said, wearing a lab coat too and a pair of glasses. These glasses were but also some sort of computer. "Come over here."  
Yao led the Scotsman over to a round where several chambers were located… that bore resemblance to MRI scanners. Basically just a set of five 'beds' that were able to slide back into a hole halfways. Inside those beds were many suction cups.  
Scotland was told to lie down there. China nonchalantly applied the cubs on the tall man's head, lifted the shirt and continued to apply the cups on the chest, then the back of the hands, the ankles…  
"Lie down quiet, close your eyes and think of nothing. Should not be too hard, aru."  
The lid of the 'bed' was closed and Alasdair noticed how his chamber was moved back… into the wall where a whirring sound started. Something was spinning around his head.

The redhead had no idea what was coming, so he just closed his eyes and tried to think of nothing. It wasn't easy with so many new impressions... the suction cups on his skin, the whirring sound around his head.  
As he managed to do that, for a split second he could see something like a tunnel of light which he crossed very quick. The next thing he saw - and felt – was that he was in some kind of liquid, much like water. He could only hear faint noises. It was like he was in a bathtub filled with water and was sunken under. He tried to open his eyes. It was difficult, but he managed. What he saw was strange… if he had not known different; he would say he was inside… that creature in the big tube!

With a snap he was back in his chamber with the whirring sound. He was sweat soaked and his pulse was racing. What had just happened?  
The whirring sound slowed down and he was pulled back into the real life.  
"It seems to have worked, aru.", China said with a grin. He seemed to be happy about what had just happened. "We disconnected you so we can prepare your avatar. You will be helping the outside missions this way from now on."

The thought of not joining the others but going to bed was weird… Today would be the second time he would 'connect' with his avatar. But also the first… where he would be breathing this damned air that was able to kill the others with the toxins.  
Alasdair felt like someone who was attending school for the first day. He shook his head and again sunk into the bed-like construction. There was silicone inside that made it all very soft. Actually you wouldn't feel your very own body. Also this time everything was weird… the suction cups, the whirring sound… waking up in a new body was even more weird and Alasdair wasn't sure if he was comfortable with it. He had not talked about this to anyone. Not even Francis to whom he was close related ever since the late 13th century…

The vision was not very clear, but his eyes grew accustomed to the bright light inside the lab. He was lying on a lab table and wore one of those shirts that were open on the back. He was aware that he wore nothing else and that he was still wired on this one. How annoying…  
"Mr. Scotland, can you hear me?"  
He tried to talk but just brought out a gurgling sound. Maybe it was because he had just been 'born' with his body. He rolled to the site and coughed as he fell down on the cold floor.  
"Oh!"  
"Be careful!"  
He coughed some more as he got back on his feet. His body ached a bit, felt sore… burning even. But he was not going to give up. He stuck on there. Shakily he staggered around the lab room where people told him to sit back down. But he refused and eyed the sign which said 'Exit'.  
"Stop, you can't go there!"  
Luckily the nurses and doctors already wore exopacks.

The Scottish Na'vi staggered out into Freedom. It looked rather funny. Before him was nothing but plains… and then the wall and the jungle behind there.  
"…Wonder if there'll be more lik' me.", the Scotsman mumbled and licked his teeth. He might have found the taste awful, but his tastebuds had grown used to the substance he had been in in the past few months.  
"Mister Scotland!"  
The tall blue man turned to see the tiny Japanese… who appeared now even more tiny.  
"You have to get in form and go help the others. Once we have more probes… like hair from these natives – we can make more avatars like you."  
"A see."  
"Maybe we can even become close to them. I have been curious about their nature."  
"Mh…"

At first I need something to put on, he thought and slightly wondered if his magic also worked with this new body. Why not, he was but probably working his magic from afar… from the chamber. The source of Scotland's magic had been an earring on his left ear.  
"Ah… A have one more question", the Scotsman said before the other left. "Does this body experience pain when A'm nae in there?"  
"It does but since you wouldn't be connected this body is pretty much in a deep sleep state. …Why?"  
"A consider puttin' on an earring.", it seemed a bit awkward.  
"…", Kiku just turned around and left.

Well, the Japanese could think what he want. Alasdair still was not done with this body. He transformed the coat into some decent clothes. Just pants and a T-shirt really. He could feel the soil undernearth his feet but he didn't mind since it was really warm. And still he was not done.  
If there were more avatars like him to come there needed to be shelter. The idea was to have something like a garage. And maybe crops nearby…  
He walked around the base and started off in a corner, making a small hut with dried grass as a roof. It was accessible via some stairs and had comfy big beds inside. Here, he could leave this body once he wanted to get back.  
Then he picked up some sticks to mark the area where crops would be planted… food for the avatar bodies. Because he was already hungry in this body. He wondered what the natives ate… If they had crops too?  
Then he created a training area with his magic…and started to use it.

Days passed by without anything special happening, which Alasdair was glad for. He had used the time to build up his avatar. He thought of this extra body as a weapon, waiting to be used. It certainly had some advantages towards the human body. It was able to breath the air on this planet without any toxic difficulties, it was way taller…bigger… It had a tail for some reason, whereas it was believed that humans used to have a tail since they still have a tailbone… so they have the assets to grow one.  
And then there was this strange botanical thing at the end of the long braid that was made from his black hair.  
Also the night vision was slightly better than with humans.

It was time to do a trip outside the walls of the base camp.

But Alasdair wasn't going to be alone on this trip. His task was to watch out for the others in the group that had no avatar. The main object of the trip was to discover the planet and, if possible, find more probes to make such avatars.  
"Hey dude, how's it going up there?", when America had first seen Alasdair using the avatar, he had wanted one too.  
"A'm fine, but A'd advise ye ta do nah unnecessary talk. They could watch us."  
"…They could be very silent. It's their territory after all.", Germany said.  
Along with them was also Russia, who watched out for enemies.

It was indeed moreover so that the natives of Pandora would invite the foreigners to their likings… or not.  
Suddenly, the ground rumbled. Not much later, a horde of 'centaurs' appeared between the bushes and the little group had to run.  
In fact there weren't centaurs, there were natives on Direhorses. Actually quite astonishing when you think that riding a horse wasn't only happening on earth. But our friends didn't have any time to think but to run for their lives. Alasdair alone couldn't withstand them.  
After a long run they ended up in a hole filled halfways with water.

"Are the exopacks made for water usage too?", America huffed.  
"I doubt it.", Germany found swimming difficult with clothes but was glad that their equipment wasn't too sensitive against water. Still he was angry that they had not been able to really fight.  
The natives stood on the edge of the hole and laughed and taunted the earthlings.  
But when they noticed that there was one of them among them, they frowned and started to discuss. Finally, their leader offered Alasdair his hand to get out of the hole.  
"Apparently they think A am one o' them.", the Scotsman looked over to the others.  
"Go with them… maybe this is how you can help us out.", Germany said.  
"…A'll try.", Alasdair had doubts. He wasn't so good with asking things from others… After all he had not managed to gain back his freedom yet still.

The natives of Pandora didn't take their time to debate with the funny guy who looked like one of them. They hopped back onto their horses and Alasdair was to ride just behind the leader.  
This way he also noticed that these natives used the funny part at the end of their braid to …connect with the horses. Was that something like an USB device? When it was that what they used that piece for, then the natives had even one more advantage towards humans.

Humans on earth had hardly been able to adapt to nature. Either it was too cold or too hot. And then also it was difficult to go hunting for food when you don't have strong teeth and jaw like a carnivore, when you don't have claws…  
So humans decided to change their environment to their advantage using their brains. Whenever something was difficult, humans would search to bend the elements before them, not themselves.

The natives here seemed to be more… connected to nature. Also their clothes… the few strings that covered whatever what had to be covered were few.  
Alasdair was very curious what they were going to do with him. They reached the village or city of the natives soon. At the entrance were children and younger natives that cheered when the hunters came back. Okay, that was still pretty similar to rural earth happening.  
But what was different here was that the natives lived within the circle of five big trees that connected in a spiral way over the heads of the natives. Alasdair couldn't see what was up there… just a lot of tree stuff…leaves, branches, vines really.

The circle at the bottom was a big place that invited for festivals and gatherings. Alasdair tried to grasp as much as he could from the place. It was unlikely that they would kill him. … Wait, he would still live because his real body was back at the base. He shook his head in irritation.  
Then there were other 'furniture', much like a podest where the head or mayor would be… and also was. An elderly native who wore a lot of ornamental plants or pieces from animals. Next to him was a small boy and another elderly woman who also looked very important.  
This was also a thing that would probably never change anywhere. You are an important person and you display that with what you wear.

The hunters stepped down from their horses and so did Alasdair. He still looked around as the other natives of any age - but mostly the younger ones – stepped closer to him, looked at him, touched him.  
He didn't like that but he tried to recall for himself that it was not his body and they were some other folk where touching was probably not as stupid.  
The leader of the huntsmen and the mayor exchanged some words. At some point, the leader pointed towards Alasdair and not much later, he was brought forward to present himself to the mayor. The elderly woman discussed with her husband, the mayor and eventually the elderly man walked up to Alasdair and grabbed his braid, connecting each other.

The Scotsman was confused. Was this a normal thing? He had a feeling that this was really not something good. It felt a bit like… when a stranger walks up to you and grabs you by your crotch!  
But at the same time, he could see or feel… maybe even hear, what was going on in the old man's mind. What his memories were. Scotland could feel that the old man feared and disliked the strangers that had come from the sky. No one knew what they wanted and their machines were just terribly loud. Alasdair huffed at the impact of impressions and hoped that the old man also saw that they were not necessarily doing something evil.

Of course… they didn't speak the same language and the connection between them made it that much easier.  
Alasdair understood that this connection was called 'Tsaheylu'. The bond. It was something done between the natives and the direhorses… but also the Banshees, the flying entities on this planet. The larger ones from the mountains could be flown on…  
There were many ways of using Tsaheylu.  
The natives called themselves the 'Na'vi', the 'people'.

Furthermore, Alasdair understood that this here was a 'Clan', the 'Tree of Five' was their home. And this elderly woman was a 'Tsahìk', the spiritual leader. Clan… this was a word long lost in Scotland. The Clans had been… the families ruling over the Highlands. …They were long lost and gone. Alasdair tried to wipe the memory of the Highlands from his vision, but the mayor… or moreover clan leader – summoned and searched further in the memory. He saw that this man was representing a Nation and was therefore over 2000 years old, that he had three brothers and even more family members at home representing Nations as well.  
It was enough and the Clan leader disconnected himself from the Scotsman.

Alasdair felt flustered and clinged to his task to save the others who were still in the pit with water. When it was darkening, things wouldn't be as pleasant.  
"Help my friends.", he demanded, looking at the Clan leader. The guy didn't understand him but also saw no necessity in connecting with Alasdair again. He seemed to have lost interest as he stepped back onto his platform. For the villagers, the normality came back.

The Scotsman headed towards the exit and wanted to see if he could get back to his friends. If no one helped he had to save them by himself. Then he was stopped by a young native. It was the younger grandson of the Clan leader. The leader of the Huntsman was the son of the Clan leader and the father to that child here.  
"What is it?", Alasdair furrowed his thick brows and kneeled down to see the little one better.  
"Vhatt is itt?", the child echoed.  
"…A shouldna be th' one ta learn a language fra. A already told France tha'.", the Scotsman rolled his eyes.  
The child laughed and clapped his hands. Alasdair looked back to the clan leader who just smiled and nodded.

"Look, A still need ta help me friends.", Alasdair looked at the child and made an important face. "A can teach ye anythin' once they're outta th' pit."  
The child, despite not having understood anything, nodded politely.  
"Ye… stay here. Yer ta wee ta help me.", he argumented.  
The child nodded again.

Okay, get going, the Scotsman told himself and started to find his way back. Fortunately he just had to follow the trace the Direhorses had made. The animals were so fat despite them just living off of nectar…

"It was about damn time you showed up, pal!", America exclaimed furiously when Scotland tried to help him out of the murky pit. The American was wet and dirty all over. According to what the others said and the overall impression, the American had tried to heroically climb out of the pit and save them.  
"A'm sorry, okay? It's nah me fault they took me away."  
"Have you gotten any probes?", Germany asked as he was pulled out.  
"…Nah. Fergot about it.", he had been too clouded by the connection. This Tsaheylu had pulled up all the things he had rather wanted to forget.  
"But it seems we could trace them down."  
"A would rather not. We're outnumbered by far."  
"Oh, come on. All we need are a bit of probes and then we can kick ass too!", America stepped into the direction the Direhorse trace led to. "Hey, who's this dude?"

Apparently, the young Na'vi had followed Alasdair.  
"Oh… eh… he's the grandson of the Clan leader."  
"Clan leader? Have you been able to talk to them?", Germany wanted to know.  
"Not directly… … w-well, maybe ye can have yer probes fra this guy and then we go back to the base.", Alasdair frowned he didn't like any of this and had a bad feeling.

"Hey, that guy has funny hair."  
"Let go of his braid! It's fockin' sensitive.", Alasdair could see that the young Na'vi was scared from Alfred. But Alasdair wanted to protect him. "…A din ken if we can take him with us. His grandpa juist sent him with me."  
"Then we better watch out for him… we could treat him like our own people.", Ludwig looked at the kid that was barely his size. "Maybe the Clan leader… or how you call him.. wanted this child to learn out ways of living."  
"Mmh… Aye."

Back at the basecamp, Alasdair reported about his meeting with the people from the clan.  
"They call themselves th' Tipani Clan. Their … political structure seems ta be tha' there's one head, the Clan leader, and the 'Tsahìk'… much like a shaman, a spiritual leader.", his Na'vi body was now resting at the hut while he had a meal with the other nations and several scientists in the cafeteria.  
"The guy we brought with us is obviously the grandson of the two. They are also able to ride horses… just like we used to do on earth so long ago."  
"And how do they do that? Do they use saddles? Bridle?"  
"Mh… Nah, they use Tsaheylu.", the word had gotten stuck on his head.  
"Tsaheylu?"  
"The bond. It is done with their braids. At the end of their braid they have somethin' tha' looks like… somethin' floral. A cannae really describe it. However, with this they connect to the Direhorses. It's more like… a bodily connection. As if they'd be th' livin' USB stick. Also Tsaheylu can be used to connect to other things… A have nah done it mesel' yet."

The scientists among which also Japan and China were… and now also Germany, were already working on the other avatars. With the help of the Clan leader's grandson whose name was 'Tsu'tey' and special nutritious liquids, it should be possible to make them usable sooner.

Then another secret project was launched. The science group asked if the 'avatar group' was able to capture some wild animals…  
Soon, some Direhorses and Prolemuris were held in a haddock… or cages. The scientists were not impressed by the beauty and pretty much abused them like lab rats. Everything happened undercover, no one knew. … until these animals suddenly appeared as labour force for normal humans.

Alasdair in the meantime tried to spend as much time as possible with the young Tsu'tey and soon, the child was able to say simple words. … though they turned out to be rather Scottish.  
"Eejit, haha!"  
"Alasdair, stop teaching him such nonsense!", Arthur furrowed his brows at his older brother.  
Alasdair just smirked. "He's learnin' fast, isna me fault. And A certainly won't stop cursing."  
"You're very immature!"

At the same time, Alasdair tried to learn the language of the clan… which was rather difficult. He had never been a pro on learning new languages. Even to today's time he would never lay off the strong accent he had when he spoke English.  
But luckily Francis often visited the child and the Scotsman. Francis was known for to have learnt a lot of languages… Latin, French, English, German… he spoke all of them out of a necessity. Also he had been curious about the culture of this unknown people a lot. He wanted to know everything.  
"But I guess I won't be getting my avatar that soon. I'm not a fighter. Back then when we first settled in the new world… America… we had it much easier."  
"Och, yer time will come. There need to be scientists on the front line too."  
"I'm not a scientist either… I just want to document what I see."  
"Mh… A din ken whot's tha' called.", the redhead chuckled.  
"The only thing I but miss is that your avatar thingy doesn't share your red hair."  
"A guess black hair is stronger…genetically."  
"Mhm…"

The relationship between the humans and the na'vi was more subtle. Both were not sure what to think of the other life form. And both estimated the other one being that much more powerful. The Na'vi had respect since the humans had been coming from the sky, thus named them 'Skypeople'. And the humans had respect for the Na'vi because they seemed to much more…advanced in height and everything. They were what the earthlings might want to call 'guerrillas'. The Na'vi wouldn't be easy to spot in the vast jungle and were simply superior, roaming through there like it was nothing.  
The main weapons of the Na'vi were bow and arrow with deadly poison while the humans had guns and TNT.  
It was hard to say who was superior really.

Then there was one thing Scotland, the pioneer in terms of being a human in the body of a Na'vi, wanted to experience. He wanted to learn how to ride a Direhorse with Tsaheylu, and he wanted to fly with a Mountain Banshee, which the Clan people called Ikran. It was something like a test for adulthood for the clan people. Whoever was a skilled warrior could climb up 'Iknimaya' and tame their own Ikran to be a hunter with wings.  
Iknimaya was a cluster of large rocks connected with vines that lead up way into the floating mountains. The humans had not seen such a thing yet. These rocks actually had to be way too heavy to float up that high.

"Only the bravest warriors are allowed to get up there.", Tsu'tey explained. "We don't want strangers up there."  
"Hm… too bad. A really would like to check it out.", Alasdair was in his avatar body and looked up at the floating rocks. "…Are ye sure they would notice if A took a look?"  
"Alasdair, please don't climb Iknimaya.", the boy looked strict.  
"…", The Scotsman had never been one to listen to others. Also he felt his body experienced enough to do something like that. He was excited to meet his own Ikran. He had heard that such a 'bird' would have only one rider in their life… so it was very personal… maybe intimate relationship.

So regardless of Tsu'teys advises, Alasdair made his way up into the mountains. Here and there were tough passages. He had to jump onto a vine dangling high above the ground. There was no safety belt or anything. If Alasdair missed the vine he would fall very deep… it would be painful and his avatar would be dead…  
But he took the risk and continued until he tapped through a small cave and ended up in a giant nest where the Ikrans were flying around quite lively.  
"…I told you not to go!", Tsu'tey huffed.  
"Och, but now ye managed ta come as well. Wanna pick one too?", Alasdair grinned.  
"No… I'm too young to do that."  
"Okay."

"The one that is yours will attack you, watch out."  
"The one fer me? But would tha' mean tha' mother nature knew A would come to Pandora?", the Scotsman muttered.  
Actually all of those critters looked aggressive. Alasdair jumped onto some of them… which flew away. Okay, they were out.  
A blue one with white stripes remained and hissed at the foreigner.  
"Ye wanna be me pony? A'richt then~", Alasdair grinned and jumped at the Ikran.

After a bit of a fight, he had managed to connect to the critter. Tsaheylu again felt rather strange. But also the Ikran calmed down.  
"…", Tsu'tey stood there, flabbergasted. Then he stepped towards the man on the Ikran and pushed him towards the edge. "You must fly to finish it off!"  
"Oh? …Oh!"  
And then he was in the air. He had no idea how to steer such an Ikran. After tumbling a few times in the air, he thought of flying like he had flown in the Second World War…He imagined flying now with the Ikran.  
It worked just fine.

But in the middle of the flight when Alasdair had thought he had everything in control, something rammed him. "Wha'?"  
He tumbled through the air and could barely see that it was another Ikran. The Scotsman tried to escape through the woods, but the Ikran followed him nonetheless… until it disappeared for no reason.  
That was weird… because one thing he was damn sure about was that the Ikran had some technical device blinking on the part where a Na'vi would usually put in the end of the braid.

After having spent the whole afternoon and most of the evening with flying around with the Ikran, Scotland landed back in the base and put his body to sleep. At least that was what he was aiming towards. He could see at the haddock where the Pandorian animals were housed that scientists were doing something to a Direhorse. The Direhorse fought against them, but the scientists used electroshocks to calm it down.  
The Scotsman wanted to walk up to them and say something, but instead remained quiet and watched further what they were doing.  
It was just like earlier with the Ikran. The scientists had come up with some device to control these animals apparently.

"These animals behave like demons. Your people have changed them. They no longer speak to Eywa."

Who had said that? There was no one near Alasdair. He frowned and went to put the avatar to rest. He had not eaten with his normal body and he needed to take care of this one too.  
Who was that Eywa?

The next day he asked Tsu'tey about that.  
"You don't know who Eywa is? He is our … he is around us. He is within us.", the boy didn't quite know how to say it. They had never talked about such a thing.  
"Something like a god? A deity? …it's a higher creature.", Alasdair looked to the sky. "When …humanity was young… back on earth, we believed in god. We thought that he had a realm in the sky… called 'heaven'. He was there with his helpers, angels. Angels were like humans with wings. Beautiful beings that would often also be messengers."  
"Atokirina?"  
"Whot?"  
"Atokirina… the purest beings… they are this size and glow."  
"Oh… sounds appealing."

The Scotsman looked out onto the forest. From where the two were sitting they had a great view over the jungle.  
"Something bad is happening. A mean… it was fine when our scientists wanted ta ken more about this planet. But now they started to control th' animals livin' here. Ye ken…where ye make Tsaheylu with th' animal… they put in something so these animals are no longer free."  
"Like a parasite?"  
"Maybe.", Alasdair was surprised that the boy sometimes showed this fine intelligence.  
"Then we must stop them. It's not right."  
"Aye… but wait. Taking away the parasite is one thing, but we have to go to the root of this problem. The idea to make this has to be destroyed… A think A can do tha'. …A never asked somethin' fra ye, but could ye tell yer clan ta take care of the beasts that have been infected by the parasite? There has to be a way to unplug the device."  
"…Mhm.", the boy nodded and felt proud. He dashed away to the Home trees.

Alasdair meanwhile used his Ikran, the earthlings called them 'Banshee', and flew over to Hell's Gate… the basecamp of the humans.  
During the time, the settlers had built it out a whole lot. More and more people came once it was a safe place to stay. Also, there was a department for to dig in Pandora's soil which was rich on all kinds of ore that was very needed on earth.  
That was why the RDA was here. For Ressources for the earth.

The project of controlling the animals was just some kind of joke to the scientists.  
"And A ask ye ta stop."  
"Or else what?", Japan asked, irritated.  
"Or else A'm gonna smash this place.", The Scotsman wondered if the detoxified air would harm his Na'vi body, but shrugged it off. He would go and cause some damage nonetheless. "Back on earth ye would face laws because of violation the animal's rights."

"animal rights… tsk… Back on earth we barely have any animals. And those here are too savage to bear with. What do you think would a tamed Banshee cost on earth? Any human would be able to fly at will. Wouldn't that be great? We only do what's best."  
"Och Aye, whot's best… for us earthlings, but we are clearly infiltrating a foreign world. We already killed mother nature at home. Do ye wanna continue here?"  
"…We can't afford any failure."  
"Then how about ye juist focus on the Ressources of this planet. A saw ye already dug a crater fer mining. Ye already take away tha' place ta live fer th' critters. Isn't that enough?"  
But the Japanese man didn't answer and walked away.

"Do you really think you can stop the people?", Arthur asked. He still had no avatar and Alasdair had chosen to talk to the other nations in person.  
"This is about mind control. It's not going well… A have a bad feelin' about this. A mean, whot if we use them as weapons? We already have guns and whatnot… A find it's too much."  
"I agree.", Germany said. Italy agreed as well. France did that anyway.  
"So you pull back… that makes Pandora American territory.", America grinned confident.  
"No way. You already claim the moon. I cannot allow that.", Ivan sided with Scotland… more or less. "Even the animals on earth had not been controlled this way. It's a dirty way of war."  
"Oui, just how long would it take and then we put the same devices on the Na'vi… and then in the end maybe on humans too? This is going too far."

Destroying an idea is not easy…, Alasdair thought.  
In the background, China disappeared back into the labs and told that the other nations had gathered to go against them.

Not much later, a Thanator – a very large Panther like animal – crashed into the living room where the nations had been debating.  
"Exopacks, quick!"  
Everyone put on their Exopack, but unfortunately there weren't enough and the doors to the lab were locked. The Thanator prepared to lung at them. No doubt he was controlled by the scientists.

Alasdair however knew that there was one more chamber with Exopacks and a Linkchamber where he could link with his avatar. He shouted to the others to run there, then on second thought shouted to his brother to use magic…to turn all of them into Na'vi. It was easy as that.  
Almost… the magic of the British Brothers had the small flaw that the clothes of their fellow Nations didn't grow along with their bodies that then were double the height of an average human being.  
"And now?", America grabbed a chair and tossed it at the Thanator. "You should have done something about him, not us!"  
"Well who dinnah want to deal with this shit?", Alasdair also grabbed a chair and used it as a shield. Fortunately, the Thanator was outnumbered. "…Italy, run! Distract him!"  
"What?!", the Nation in question squeaked.

Germany caught Scotland's idea. "France, Romano run with him!"  
"Don't tell me what to do, Potato jerk!"  
"Go!", Francis dragged both Italies with him and the three of them tried to pick up the critter's attention just to run then.  
Alasdair ran after the Thanator and jumped onto its back. It was not so easy, because the Thanator was pretty fast.

It was Germany who managed to jump on the Thanator's back after America, Russia, England and Scotland had their chance. "Vhat do I do now!?", the Germany shouted, falling back a bit into his accent.  
"Take th' device fra th'… th' thing!… and then if ye can plug th' end o' yer braid in there!"

The Nations knew that Germany had managed to do it, when the Thanator slowed down and finally halted. Germany was impressed.

"H-h-h… can we… can we stop running now?", the three Distractors had run around the building complex and now arrived behind the others.  
"Aye. … Germany got th' critter.", Alasdair smiled at the three… especially at Francis who looked just magnificent as a Na'vi.

"We need to stop the scientists before they launch more critters at us.", England demanded, trying to fix his clothes around his waist.  
"Yush, let's go!", America shouted. "I go first, you'll be my sidekicks!"  
"…", Russia grabbed his faucet.

It was uncalled for that the scientists had played around with life like so. Why had they done it? Were they villains or something? Especially China and Japan. What had they been thinking?  
"I suggest that we split up. You can't have everyone as your sidekick, America.", England glared at the younger Nation. "We need a group that frees the animals, the other group will try and get a hold of the Scientists."

"It might be a wee bit rough with the animals, so we need a wee bit o' force. A take with me Germany, America, Russia and Spain.", Scotland said. "…Arthur, use yer magic so th' scientists stay alive. Juist give 'em an air bubble or somethin'."  
"I can handle it myself. You do your thing."

The scientists had captured Direhorses, Forest Banshees, Mountain Banshees, Hammerhead Titanothere, Prolemuris… and some others. The Thanator had been the only of his kind, luckily.  
It was still a bit of work to free them from their devices. Alasdair didn't want to freeze them in time. Actually he had no idea how his magic worked on Pandora.

England and his crew in the meantime had surrounded the lab and demanded to get answers from the scientists why they had turned against the Nations and also against nature itself. Whether it concerned them or not, it was uncalled for to control the mind of an animal.  
The scientists had to give up and soon were sent back home.  
The rest that was allowed to remain had to rebuild what was destroyed. Some of the scientists had claimed that they had done their work under pressure and that they had been against it. England investigated in those terms and selected those that could stay.

But also some of the Nations returned home as well with new hope and some greens from the vast forest of Pandora.


End file.
